Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday called Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation from the Cabinet over the agriculture bills a case of “too little too late” and said it was nothing but a “gimmick” to fool farmers, PTI reported. Singh said the decision was politically motivated to protect the party’s vote bank in Punjab.

President Ram Nath Kovind accepted her resignation on Friday.

Badal, an MP of the Shiromani Akali Dal, one of the oldest allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party, resigned from the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet on Thursday after publicly criticising the agricultual policy of the government. The announcement was made in the Lok Sabha by Shiromani Akali Dal President and her husband Sukhbir Singh Badal as he opposed two of the agriculture ordinances in the House. Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that she resigned to show support to the protesting farmers.

But Amarinder Singh said her decision was “another in the long chain of theatrics” being enacted by the party to save their own dwindling political fortunes. He said this was because the “Badals had lost all credibility in the eyes of Punjab’s people”.

The chief minister also questioned SAD’s decision to continue to remain a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance despite the “slap on their face” by the Centre over the farm bills. “It was the angst of the farmers and the pressure mounted by the state’s farmer organisations, which were up in arms against the vicious ordinances brought in by the Government of India, that had compelled the Badals to change their stance on the ordinances,” the chief minister claimed.

“Did Sukhbir and Harsimrat and their coterie not see the damage the legislations would do to Punjab’s agriculture and economy all this time?” Singh asked. “Or were they so blinded by their greed for power that they deliberately chose to close their eyes to the danger posed by the ordinances?”

Singh said that had the Shiromani Akali Dal taken a stand earlier and supported his government against the farm ordinances, the Centre might have thought ten times before pushing the anti-farmer Bills in Parliament.

Meanwhile, in his party’s defence, Sukhbir Singh Badal said that they had protested against the government’s policies since they were introduced. He added that his party will review the situation and the core committee would decide on the party’s continued alliance with the NDA.

“From the Day One when the ordinances were brought into the Cabinet, Harsimrat Kaur Badal strongly opposed it and put forward her views that the people of Punjab are concerned with the ordinances,” the SAD chief told NDTV outside the Parliament. “Especially, the farmers should be consulted. But they passed it.”

He added that his party would act as a mediator between farmers and the Centre as it was an ally of the NDA. “We are sad that the government of India brought this bill without a dot of change,” Sukhbir Singh Badal said. “We spent two months trying to convince the government. But now since the bill is done, we cannot go back.”

The Centre had introduced the three contentious ordinances – the Farmers’ Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion And Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill – in Parliament on Monday.

The government says that the three ordinances will create a farmer- and trader-friendly environment where they will be able to sell and purchase agricultural produce. The bills seek to include private players in agriculture and promote hurdle-free sale of produce, but the farmers argue that they will bring about corporate dominance. They also fear that in the name of reforms, the government is also planning to dismantle the Minimum Support Price regime.

Farmers in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana had on Monday staged protests against the bills and demanded that they be withdrawn immediately. The Opposition has also opposed the ordinances and accused the Centre of “destroying the federal structure” by bringing the Bills in Parliament. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the bills sought to empower farmers with new technology and they were just “confused” about its benefits.