New Delhi: Harsimrat Kaur Badal has submitted her resignation as Union minister to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), principal advisor to Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said on Thursday.
Harcharan Bains, the principal advisor, said Kaur submitted her resignation soon after the party chief announced in Lok Sabha that she would quit the Union Cabinet in protest against the three farm bills, tabled in Parliament by the Centre for passage.
I have resigned from Union Cabinet in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister.
— Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) September 17, 2020
Kaur, the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, is the only SAD representative in the Modi government.
Earlier, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal had announced in Lok Sabha that the minister will resign from the Union Cabinet.
In his speech during a discussion on two of the farm bills — the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, Sukhbir Singh Badal said the proposed laws will “destroy” the 50 years of hard work done by successive Punjab governments to build the farm sector.
He recalled Punjab’s massive contribution in making India self-sufficient in food grain production as he vehemently opposed the bills.
“I announce that Harsimrat Kaur Badal will resign from the government,” he said in Lok Sabha.
She is the only SAD representative in the Modi government. The Punjab party is the oldest BJP ally.
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