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SAD demands resignation of CM, cabinet colleagues

Akali leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said former IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap [Singh], who had been “rapped and removed from the investigation by the [Punjab and Haryana] High Court”, had been “chosen by the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues and senior leaders”.

By: Express News Service | Chandigarh |
April 27, 2021 12:21:37 am
SAD MLA Bikramjit Singh Majithia outside Vidhan Sabha on the second day of Punjab Budget Session in Chandigarh. (Express Photo: Kamleshwar Singh)

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday demanded “the immediate resignation of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh as well as his cabinet colleagues for hatching a political inquiry into an unfortunate incident by a handpicked officer whose findings have been termed malicious, irrational and absurd by the high court”.

Addressing a press conference here, Akali leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said, “Besides chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh”, the cabinet ministers “who had held meetings to frame the charge sheet in the case” should put in their papers immediately. Majithia also demanded action against all the leaders who had politicised the case.

Majithia said former IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap [Singh], who had been “rapped and removed from the investigation by the [Punjab and Haryana] High Court”, had been “chosen by the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues and senior leaders”.

He said “[Congress MLA and former minister] Navjot Sidhu was part of the alliance when the incident occurred and [Sidhu’s wife] Navjot Kaur Sidhu was a chief parliamentary secretary. They did not resign then and continue to play the same opportunistic politics now. Same is the case with the cabinet ministers and other leaders who held meetings with the tainted police officer to implicate the SAD instead of letting the SIT do its job of nailing the culprits in the case.”

Majithia also alleged that “AAP leader of opposition Harpal Cheema was also working in tandem with the Congress party to target the SAD and simultaneously protect the former IG despite the severe strictures passed against Kunwar Vijay by the high court”. He said, “Earlier also AAP had worked in league with the Congress to protect the former IG by even approaching the Election Commission in April 2019 to demand review of the police officer’s transfer from the SIT.”

The SAD leader also condemned “attempts by disparate forces like Sukhpal Khaira and Baljeet Singh Daduwala getting together in the name of panthic unity to vitiate the atmosphere of the state…”.

Asserting that “Congress — AAP conspiracy had been exposed by the Guru”, Majithia said “these parties did politics in the name of the Guru and it is the Guru which has exposed them now and will continue to expose them in future also. I also pray that nothing remains of those who are doing politics on this issue”.

Taking on Kunwar, the SAD leader said “the former police officer had claimed that he had prepared such a charge sheet which was never prepared in India. This is true because in the coming times police academies will give the example of Kunwar’s charge sheet to warn cadets on how not to conduct investigations in such manner.”

He said, “The HC had passed as many as thirty strictures against the former IG which was unprecedented in its history”. He said “earlier also former high court judge Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had imposed a penalty of Rs 5,000 on Kunwar Vijay besides asking him to apologise for turning a civil case into a criminal one”.

Speaking about the manner in which the erstwhile SAD government had handled such cases, Majithia said “then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had got a case under Section 302 registered against eleven police officers in the Behbal Kalan police firing case but the Congress government had taken out the name of seven police officers from the challan”. He said, “the earlier SAD-led government had even shown its displeasure with the State Police Chief by removing him”.

Majithia also condemned the government for “its abysmal failure in tackling the twin problems of Covid and lack of gunny bags at procurement centers”. He said, “The chief minister was in deep slumber like Nero and needed to wake up to provide much needed oxygen as well as medicines to combat the scourge of Covid”.

He said it was “shocking that the government had failed to provide even basic facilities at government hospitals due to which the Covid death toll was spiraling out of control. If Captain Amarinder Singh is not fit to govern he should resign forthwith.”

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