Cong not behind ’84 riots: Rana

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 12

Even as the Supreme Court has set up a new SIT for investigating 186 cases of the 1984 riots, Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh said the Congress was not responsible for the riots. “If our party was in power at that time in Delhi, we cannot treat it as being responsible for the riots,” he said.

Though the Congress had earlier been demanding fixing of accountability for the missing foodgrain stock of Rs 30,000 crore, Punjab minister Rana Gurjit Singh said his government had already started treating it as a loan.

Rana, who was here for a music album release function, said, “We have had to repay instalments of Rs 3,200 crore for this debt. The previous government left us this as a debt liability.”

Asked if his government would now enquire as to who all were the beneficiaries of the pilferage as was promised ahead of the polls, he replied, “I cannot comment on that as the department is with the CM. But wherever there will be a scam, we will surely rake it up”.