File photo: Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal (L)
As the Punjab bus tragedy rocked Parliament today, Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal paid a quiet visit to the civil hospital, where the mother of the teenager who died last week is admitted.
Meeting the family days after his father, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, monitored a compromise with them, Mr Badal expressed his condolences. He even made the trip in a car without a red beacon.
As part-owner of Orbit Aviation - the company that owned the bus -- Mr Badal had been caught in the middle of the controversy. The opposition has been demanding that he and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a minister at the Centre, resign.
Later, talking about the demand, Badal Junior told journalists, "Let us be fair. If your driver is responsible for an accident, should you be arrested?" The government, he said, had taken strict action in the case, "and will continue to do so".
The Orbit Aviation had started with plying ordinary buses on short routes and ended up with a fleet of luxury coaches. Sources said rules were bypassed to benefit the state's first family and a case against the permits they received is being heard by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
As an example, Manpreet Badal, president of Punjab People's Party and the Chief Minister's nephew, said when he was the finance minister, his uncle had asked that air-conditioned buses "not be taxed". He said when he refused to sign the concerned file, he was "bypassed".
In 2007, Mr Badal obtained permission from Chandigarh administrator SF Rodgrigues for private air-conditioned buses from Punjab to enter Chandigarh.
Mr Sukhbir Badal has interest in myriad transport companies, including Dabwali Transport, Indo-Canadian Bus Service, Taj Transport, Hargobind Travels Private Limited and Shan-E-Punjab Travels Private Limited.
He also has stakes in various companies that are part of the hospitality industry and the media, including Metro Eco Green Resorts Limited, the Upcoming Eco Tourism Resorts and the G-Next Private Limited, which owns PTC television channels.