Sidhu accuses Badals of siphoning off funds

Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday accused former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal of siphoning off over Rs 2,000 crore of funds under Smart City project and Amrut scheme. He also alleged that the Badal duo have "put the money into their accounts by diverting state funds".

With the money meant for urban development being "misused" by the previous SAD-BJP government, Sidhu said the Centre has now refused to give a single penny to Punjab for the Smart City project.

Asking them to tell the people where they had spent the funds, he said Badals, who used to boast about the state's development, carried out the same "only in newspapers".

"...the money meant for some purpose directly went to the (Badal) family. Money which used to come in the state for some purpose, Badal and his son diverted it and put it into their accounts," Sidhu alleged.

The Local Body minister in the Amarinder Singh government also alleged that the previous dispensation contributed only Rs 32 crore as the state's share for Smart City project for Ludhiana as against Rs 200 crore. The Centre had sent Rs 200 crore.