Pargat alleges threat call from Amarinder’s aide

Says misuse of agencies for armtwisting and carrying out political vendetta must be stopped

CHANDIGARH: The rift in the ruling Congress in Punjab took a nasty turn when party MLA Pargat Singh on Monday accused Capt Sandeep Sandhu, political secretary to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, of threatening him for speaking his mind on the sacrilege and police firing cases.

Pargat, who has been critical of his own government’s mishandling of the probe into these cases, alleged that Sandhu threatened him over the phone on Thursday night. “Sandhu said he was conveying the chief minister’s message that papers have been collected against me and I should be ready to face action. I asked him thrice whether the CM had told him to say these things and he (Sandhu) confirmed it,” the Jalandhar Cantonment MLA said at a press conference at his flat here.

The two-time MLA said he told Sadhu to convey to the chief minister that he (Pargat) was ready to face any consequences. “I later even asked him if he has given my message to Capt, he confirmed that he has. If this is what one has to face for raising the sacrilege cases, power purchase agreements, illegal mining and probe into irrigation scam, so be it. I am ready to face any kind of probe. They can do whatever they want,” the former India hockey captain said, adding that he had informed Punjab Congress Sunil Jakhar about the threat call. While Sandhu did not respond to calls or text messages, no statement was issued by the chief minister’s office (CMO).

Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa termed the incident as extremely distressing. “I stand with him (Pargat) and his democratic right to speak about issues affecting Punjab. This continuous attempt to browbeat party MLAs for raising their voice must stop,” he tweeted.

The Congress MLA’s allegations have left the state government red faced. Considered close to former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Pargat has been critical of the Amarinder Singh government’s handling of the sacrilege and police firing cases. After a meeting the chief minister held with party MLAs three weeks ago, he had hit out at the state government, stating there was perception among the people that Amarinder and Badals were hand in glove. Sidhu and Pargat also held a meeting with some ministers and MLAs critical of Amarinder which did not go down well with the CM’s camp.

At his press conference, Pargat also said the threat call from the CM’s aide had left him dejected because he had never expected such a thing. He also raised questions over the vigilance probe initiated against close associates of Sidhu.

“The misuse of agencies for arm-twisting and carrying out political vendetta must be stopped. Such threats will not work. They need to give up such tactics,” Pargat said, calling BIS Chahal, adviser to CM, the de facto DG of the Vigilance Bureau.

SAD demands special assembly session on ‘blackmailing’ of MLAs

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday demanded a special session of the Vidhan Sabha be convened to discuss the manner in which the ministers and MLAs were being first encouraged to engage in corruption and then blackmailed to prevent them from speaking against the government. Reacting to the statement of Congress legislator Pargat Singh, former SAD minister Daljit Cheema said it was shocking that he (Pargat) had laid bare the fact that the government was preparing files against its own MLAs to prevent them from raising voice against the chief minister.

He said, “This is a clear case of breach of privilege and the Vidhan Sabha should deliberate on this to ascertain who patronised the acts of corruption.”