Road rage case: ‘CM doesn’t want other ministers to be more powerful than him’
AMRITSAR:LEADER of opposition in the Punjab assembly and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Bholath Sukhpal Singh Khaira said here on Saturday that Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh does not want any other Congress minister to be more powerful than him in the state and this is the reason behind the state government’s opposing its local bodies and tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s plea to overturn his conviction in the 1998 road rage case in the Supreme Court.
In the case, a man had died, allegedly after being beaten up by the cricketer-turned-politician and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu, 30 years ago. The trial court had acquitted Sidhu, whereas the Punjab and Haryana HC reversed his acquittal
Khaira, here on a personal visit, said, “Amarinder is working on double standards. He has argued that the state government could not backtrack from its 30-year-old stand in the road rage case against Sidhu. Then why the VB changed its stand in cases relating to the Ludhiana City Centre and Amritsar Improvement Trust scams and termed Captain as innocent.”
AMARINDER PLAYING POLITICS: BIR DEVINDER
Former deputy speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Bir Devinder Singh said, “Due to political bargain between the Badals and Amarinder, the vigilance and the prosecution agency has taken u-turn. It is better for the CM not to bring into play the morality and ethics in taking the position against Sidhu.” TALWANDISABO(BATHINDA): Against the backdrop of infighting between Punjab Police top brass and many Congress MLAS, reportedly unhappy with government functioning, Shiromani Akali Dali (SAD), on Saturday, claimed that the government had no control over state machinery.
Addressing a gathering during the Baisakhi Mela political conference in Talwandi Sabo, SAD president and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “Nothing like a government exists right now in the state.” “The situation in Punjab is so bad that there is no control of the state government over anything. Offices, including the police, are working on their own,” he added. “I have never seen such a helpless government. Nobody knows whose orders to follow. How can a CM who does not meet his party MLAS address your problems.”
WISHES PEOPLE ON AMBEDKAR JAYANTI
Sukhbir and his wife union food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wished people on the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar.
On the Special Task Force report that says that his brotherin-law, Bikram Singh Majithia, had a “role in facilitating supply of a drug to two Canadian NRIS ”, Sukhbir said the matter was sub-judice.
He claimed, “Everybody is aware about STF head ADGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu’s enmity with the Majithia family.”