Ludhiana, Punjab (June 15, 2014): The defeat of Akali-BJP candidate in Ludhiana was not digested by industries and commerce minister Madan Mohan Mittal. On his first official visit to Ludhiana after the Lok Sabha elections, Mittal kicked up a controversy when he told industrialists to solve their own problems, since they had chosen Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu over Shiromani Akali Dal nominee Manpreet Singh Ayali in this constituency.
According to a report published by Hindustan Times, Ludhiana Effluent Treatment Society (LETS) comprising businessmen from different industries had invited Mittal to Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Focal Point to lay before him the issues of micro, small and medium enter prises (MSMEs). Their value-added tax (VAT) refunds are stuck and Punjab Pollution Control Board has unleashed a torrent of raids on them, which disrupts their work.
An infuriated Mittal got up from his chair, saying: “… sadda Ayali teeje number te, hun kehende ho ke industry da khyal karo (… our (candidate) Ayali stood third (in the elections); and now you ask us to pay attention to industry.” Badish Jindal, national president of the Federation of the Associations of Small Industries of India (FASII), saw the minister got angry in the presence of several industrialists. “He didn’t like the complaints,” he said. Mittal also said at the meeting that before the elections, he had come to the Ludhiana industrialists but they had not helped him. Jindal, who is also vice-chairman of National Growth Council, said the minister had also cancelled Saturday’s scheduled meeting with the industrialists. Both congress and Aam Aadmi Party has condemned the behahaviour of senior BJP leader and minister of ruling party.