SAD alleges foul play in cooperative bank poll

Stages protest against Cong govt

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 24

SAD leader and former Bathinda Zila Parishad (ZP) chairman Gurpreet Singh Maluka along with other SAD members on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Central Co-operative Bank alleging the Congress government of wrongdoing in the nomination for the election of the board of directors of Bathinda Central Cooperative Bank.

Maluka said Tuesday was the last day for filing the nomination and timing for which was 10 am to 12 pm, but some SAD candidates were not allowed to enter and police was deployed at the gate of the bank. He further alleged that this happened on the directions of a Rampura Phul minister.

Later, Maluka along with Harinder Singh Mehraj and Jasveer Singh alleged that the minister was adopting wrong methods to put his own son to the post of the chairman. They also alleged that the Congress members who filed the nomination papers were all defaulters of the society.

Making a direct attack on minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar’s son, they claimed that Kangar’s son is not even a member of the society, yet he is being made the director. They claimed that they would challenge this in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

It is pertinent to mention that the elections to the board of directors of Bathinda Central Cooperative Bank is hanging in fire from past three years, but on the last date of the nominations, SAD members headed by Sikander Singh Maluka had to submit resolutions, but the SAD workers were not allowed to enter the bank and thus staged a protest.

Revenue minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar refuted the allegation and said people have rejected the SAD party and thus they were coming up with false allegations. Over the allegation on his son’s nomination, Kangar said SAD could challenge it anywhere, but his son’s nomination is right.