PARGAT TAKES POTSHOT AT CAPT GOVT OVER GRAFT COVER-UP
Ex-India hockey captain latest party legislator to express displeasure on govt’s performance
CHANDIGARH: Congress MLA from Jalandhar Cantt and former India hockey skipper Pargat Singh has raised questions over the working of the state government and the alleged cover-up of corruption cases. In a letter to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Pargat said every major case of corruption is either collapsing or being allowed to fail midway.
CHANDIGARH : In a sign of growing disquiet in a section of the ruling party, Congress MLA and former India hockey captain Pargat Singh has raised questions over the working of the state government and the alleged cover-up of major corruption cases.
In a letter to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Pargat said the biggest issue was the party’s promise to end corruption but every major case of corruption was now either collapsing or being allowed to fail midway instead of being taken to a logical conclusion. Though the letter — a copy of which has also been sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi — was written more than a month ago, HT accessed its contents on Sunday. When contacted, Pargat did not confirm or deny the letter.
Citing five corruption cases, including the multi-crore irrigation scam involving contractor Gurinder Singh and another against a superintending engineer of the Punjab Mandi Board investigated by the Vigilance Bureau (VB), he asked why the probe in irrigation scam is not going beyond one contractor. “Did top officers of their departments or senior politicians not patronise them... VB has not questioned the persons named by the contractor,” it said.
‘TAKE VIGILANCE OFFICERS TO TASK’
Reminding Amarinder of the Punjab Public Service Commission scam he (CM) exposed and courage he showed to send the corrupt, including big politicians, to jail during his first term (2002-07), the Congress MLA sought action against those named by the irrigation contractor. “Senior officers of VB, who have become reason of bad name for the party due to the cover-up, should also be taken to task (sic),” he wrote.
Pargat said such things have created an impression that the VB was quietly burying major cases of corruption. “After registering the cases, the investigating agencies don’t file chargesheets and rather go for cancellation reports that no evidence was found. Crores are spent on investigations but there is no accountability. How this can be justified?” he wrote.
The letter in which the MLA has raised a host of issues that the state and the party “can keep aside only at our peril” is a blistering critique of the state government, which will complete three years next month. Considered close to former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who quit the cabinet in July 2019 over differences with Amarinder, Pargat is the latest Congress legislator to express displeasure over the performance of the state government. Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa and some MLAs have also been critical of the government on various issues in recent months. Pargat is the first Congress MLA to write such a strongly-worded letter to Amarinder, though.
‘PEOPLE DISAPPOINTED WITH PERFORMANCE’
Pargat said the Congress was given a big mandate by Punjabis in 2017 with Amarinder’s performance and working style during his first tenure in mind, but an impression was now gaining ground that they were getting disappointed with the performance of the state government. He listed drug menace and empty coffers among the main reasons.
Advocating steps to plug revenue leakages that started during the previous Badal regime, he suggested a fresh round of thinking on a government corporation for sand and liquor supplies as a lot of profit was going into private pockets. “We are among the top states in liquor consumption, but are lagging in revenue generation. Where is the money going?” he asked before raising the issue of monopoly of the bus transport empire of the Badals remaining unchallenged even after three years.
The MLA also made a mention of the sacrilege issue, which, in his words, was the “biggest reason” behind the Congress getting power in 2017, and asked the CM why people had doubts about the steps taken by the government to put the culprits in the dock. Calling Amarinder one of the “wisest minds” in the state, Pargat urged him to address the concerns of MLAs and give the message that Punjab was being run by the political leadership, not the bureaucracy. “Your credibility among Sikhs has been more than any leader and any erosion of this would be unfortunate for us,” he said in the letter.
HT’s efforts to reach Amarinder, including a text message to his media adviser, did not elicit any response to issues.