Chandigarh, October 13
A day after being suspended from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal was today sacked from the SAD-BJP ministry headed by his uncle Parkash Singh Badal following differences within the alliance over a reported debt waiver offer from the Centre.

Badal has been sacked from the state Cabinet, official sources said here.

Sources close to Manpreet, however, said he had sent his resignation following his suspension yesterday.

Manpreet was sacked within hours of the Chief Minister being discharged from the PGI, Chandigarh, where he was admitted last week after falling from a staircase.

The Finance Minister was yesterday suspended from the party and served with a show cause notice seeking his reply by October 20 after the Disciplinary Committee of the party recommended his suspension.

Manpreet has been at loggerheads with Deputy Chief Minister and his kin Sukhbir Singh Badal on the Central debt-waiver issue.

Manpreet, who had reportedly met Union Finance Minister in New Delhi yesterday, was closeted with his aides, including five MLAs—four of them from the SAD and one Independent. Besides the MLAs, a number of supporters of the sacked minister and his father Gurdas Singh Badal, a senior party leader, were present at his residence.

Sources close to Manpreet said he was likely to meet the media after completing consultations with his supporters.

The MLAs present at the residence were Manjinder Singh Kang (Beas), Ajit Singh Shant (Nihalsinghwala), Kanwarjit Singh Brar (Muktsar), Jagbir Singh Brar (Jalandhar Cantt), and Charanjit Singh Channi (Independent, Chamkaur Sahab).

A four-time MLA from Gidderbaha, Manpreet, who is also a member of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), is the first SAD minister to have been suspended. — PTI