Manpreet Singh Badal

Manpreet Singh Badal (born 26 July 1962) is an Indian politician and leader of the Indian National Congress. He is the current Finance Minister of Punjab.

He has been member of Punjab Legislative Assembly five times (1995, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2017), and has been finance minister twice. His first stint as Finance Minister was in the government led by Parkash Singh Badal from 2007-2010.. This is his second stint as Finance Minister. He has presented the Punjab budget a record eight times — the maximum for any minister in Punjab.

Manpreet Singh Badal was born on 26 July 1962 in Muktsar. He is the son of Gurdas Singh Badal, the brother of former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, and Harmandir Kaur Badal, who passed away on 19 March 2020 at the age of 84.. Manpreet Singh Badal attended The Doon School and St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. He is fluent in Urdu besides Punjabi and English. He was subsequently awarded a law degree by the University of London.

He was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in May 1995 on an Akali Dal ticket from Gidderbaha. He was re-elected from Gidderbaha constituency in 1997, 2002 and 2007. In 2007 he was made finance minister in Parkash Singh Badal government. He was removed from this post following differences about debt waiver offer from the Centre with the rest of party. Subsequently, he was expelled from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in October 2010.

In 2011, he formed a new political party called People's Party of Punjab. In the 2012 Punjab elections, his party formed political alliance with CPI, CPM and Shiromani Akali Dal (Longowal) with Badal as their candidate for the office of chief minister. He contested the elections from the Gidderbaha and Maur constituencies, losing from both seats.

On 15 January 2016 Manpreet merged his party with the Congress.

After merging his party with the Indian National Congress, he was awarded the party ticket to contest from Bathinda Urban constituency. He won the seat defeating his rival from the Aam Aadmi Party by 18,480 votes in the Punjab assembly elections held in March 2017. The Shiromani Akali Dal candidate came third. He currently holds the office of Minister of Finance, Planning and Programme Implementation in the Government of Punjab, India.This is his second stint as Punjab Finance Minister.

He is married to Vinu Badal, and he has a son and a daughter.