Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 13

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh hit out at AAP and SAD on Tuesday accusing them of “lying blatantly” over political funding from private power companies, a development that comes after both parties accused his party of receiving funds from three thermal power companies.

“Political donations by certain power companies were made not to Punjab Congress but to AICC, back in 2009 and 2014, with no connection whatsoever to the incumbent government in the state,” said the Chief Minister, and accused both Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for “spreading lies”.

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“The PPAs in question were signed by the erstwhile SAD-BJP government, and were legally binding so that his (Captain Amarinder’s) government could not rescind the same without heavy penalties on the cash-strapped state,” he claimed, and said that his government was exploring legal recourse to neutralise ill effects of the PPAs without further burdening the state’s exchequer.

“In fact,” he added, “as per media reports, the Akalis led by the Badals had taken more than Rs 100 crore in political funds and declared a measly Rs 13 crore, putting the rest in their personal pockets,” a press note quoted him as saying.

About AAP, he claimed that donations taken by Arvind Kejriwal’s party AAP during the 2014 elections were already under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate.

The Chief Minister dared both his rival parties to declare all their political funding of the last 10 years.  “Let the truth come out, and let the people decide who is or has cheating them with false allegations and accusations,” he said.