Chandigarh, April 15
Accusing the Punjab Chief Minister of "misusing the process of law and the state machinery"
in “unleashing a reign of terror and oppression in the state”, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked him to quit as “ he has rendered himself unfit constitutionally and morally to remain the Chief Minister”.
It expressed its deep concern over developments in Gujarat but preferred to remain silent on the continuation of Mr Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister over his failure to discharge the constitutional obligation of protecting the life and property of the minorities . The Dal, however, wanted a thorough probe to be held into the recent incidents of communal violence in Gujarat besides urging the Central Government to ensure the safety and protection of human rights of the minorities throughout the country.
While Mr Badal tried to parry questions on the removal of Mr Modi as Chief Minister or the holding of assembly elections in Gujarat, he maintained that it was for the government that enjoyed majority in the House to decide its future line of action. “We will present our viewpoint at the NDA meeting,” he added.
The PAC meeting, which was attended among others by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Mr Kirpal Singh Badungar, Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Mr Gurdev Singh Badal and Mr Jagdev Singh Talwandi, also finalised election committees for the selection of party candidates for the coming municipal corporation elections. It also approved the setting up of a five-member committee to negotiate and work out alliances with like-minded parties for the municipal poll.
The committee will comprise Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Mr Gurdev Singh Badal and Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder. Besides the BJP,
the SAD may be looking to rope in other parties, including the BSP, for the municipal elections. “There are already some feelers from the BSP on the issue,” remarked Mr Badal.
The municipal elections apart, the main focus of discussion at today’s meeting was reportedly the alleged “police excesses on Dal leaders and workers” and the recent actions of the new Congress government in the state.
The Congress government had only a two-point agenda: ordering midnight transfers by shifting a minimum of 100 to 150 officials each time and implicating Dal leaders and workers in “false” police cases, the Dal leaders said, maintaining that efforts were being made to discontinue all welfare schemes for the people and development activities in the rural areas.
“We wonder who is the Chief Minister of Punjab — Mrs Sonia Gandhi or Capt Amarinder Singh?” asked Capt Kanwaljit Singh while referring to the nine-point agenda given to the Congress Chief Ministers by the AICC President in Guwahati on April 13.
“The directive on withdrawing the free power facility to farmers has come from an extra-constitutional authority. It reminds us of the time when the then Prime Minister and Congress President, Indira Gandhi, directed the then Punjab Chief Minister, Darbara Singh, to withdraw the river water petition from the Supreme Court and he did. It is a repetition of the same thing now,” he said maintaining that the Congress was gradually unfolding its “anti-Punjab, anti-worker and anti-farmer agenda”.
Mr Badal , coming to the support of the Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, and a party MLA, Mr Malkiat Singh Kittu, said the Congress government had “unleashed a reign of terror, violating human rights and framing false charges against its opponents in all fields”.
“We did not utter a word as long as the police was investigating the criminal cases against Dr Ahluwalia. But now when he has released the transcript of his conversation with government functionaries, it is obvious that all this was done to secure his resignation,” he said.
