Badals, not Amarinder govt, ruling Punjab, says Sidhu

SIDHU ALLEGED THAT THE STATE BUREAUCRACY AND POLICE WERE ACTING AS PER WISHES OF THE BADAL FAMILY

AMRITSAR: A day after cornering the Punjab chief minister over the formation of a new special investigation team to probe the 2015 Kotkapura police firing case, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday further sharpened his attack against the government, alleging that there is a “consensus” among legislators that the state is being run by the “Badals” instead of their own party.

Referring to the Badals, who led the previous Akali-BJP government in the state, the Amritsar East MLA alleged that the state bureaucracy and police were “acting” as per their

“wishes”.

“Consensus among MLAs, Badal Sarkar is ruling in lieu of Congress Govt ... Bureaucracy and Police act as per wishes of Badal Family, more often than listening to our MLAs and Party workers. Govt run not for welfare of the People, but for continuing control of Mafia Raj (sic),” alleged Sidhu in a Tweet post on Sunday.

The former minister has been critical of his own government ever since the Punjab and Haryana high court quashed a special investigation team (SIT) probe report into the police firing incident, which had taken place in Faridkot district during a protest against the desecration of a religious text and left two men dead.

On Saturday, Sidhu had said the government was forced to accept the HC order due to Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh’s “incompetence”, and claimed that giving six months to the new SIT to compete the probe will further “extend the delay” in delivering justice to the victims.