HAVEN’T PUT LID ON MY MOUTH, SAYS SIDHU
Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said he respected the decisions taken by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who was the final authority. However, he added that it did not mean that he had ‘put a lid’ on his mouth. He was speaking to mediapersons during a ‘Meet the Press’ programme organised by the Chandigarh Press Club.
HOSHIARPUR : Rejecting the findings of the Justice Ranjit Singh (retd) Commission report even before it is tabled in the assembly, SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia demanded an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the sacrilege incident at Bargari and the subsequent police firing at Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura that had led to the death of two persons.
Speaking to media persons, he said, “The Ranjit Singh panel is a fraud commission. If the Congress really means fair play, it should hand over the inquiry to a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.”
Majithia alleged that all three commissions — Justice Narang (retd) Commission (on sand mine auction), Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (retd) Commission (to look in to false cases registered against the Congress men under the SAD-BJP rule) and the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission set up by the Captain Amarinder Singh government were ‘friendly’ commissions. “The reports were prepared in the Congress Bhawan and a lot of give and take took place. How can you expect fairness from such probes,” he said.
Responding to reports that the head of the SIT that probed the sacrilege incident had submitted before the Commission that he the police were prevented by the SAD-BJP government from nabbing the accused, he said how a government that constituted the SIT could stop it from functioning.
“The government lent full support to the probe and even if today a fair inquiry is held, my party will stand by it,” he added. Majithia said a fair inquiry should also be held on people who were trying to foment trouble in the state and who was supporting these forces.
Asked about his purported meeting with AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, he said he met many people every day. “I am sad at Khaira’s removal from the post of leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha but at the same time I am happy at the elevation of Harpal Singh Cheema,” he said.
Refuting charges that the SAD was trying to create a rift in the AAP, he said that the party did not need any outsider to ruin it. Commenting on the alleged disagreement between chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, he said, “‘Jaldi pataaka pe jaana’ (very soon there is going to be a showdown).” Earlier , Majithia held a meeting with SAD workers at the Kalgidhar gurdwara and exhorted them to work for the panchayat elections.