Vendetta politics behind Majithia being framed, say SAD leaders

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said the entire party rank and file was standing like a rock behind senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia who it said was being politically persecuted and even being denied civil liberties besides being embroiled in fresh cases by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to suppress the voice of the opposition.

Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leaders Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said another false case had been registered against Bikram Majithia for allegedly obstructing a Vigilance Bureau team which raided his residence in Amritsar on June 25. The leaders said the proceedings of the raid had been live streamed and it was clear that it was the Vigilance Bureau which had indulged in high-handedness against Majithia. Asserting that the team was not stopped from conducting its business in any manner whatsoever, the SAD leaders said: “We have also seen how Union Minister of State Ravneet Bittu had physically stopped a Superintendent of Police from arresting Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu in a corruption case.” The leaders said no case had been registered for obstructing justice then even as Majithia was being targeted with a false case because the Aam Aadmi Party felt that it would not be able to go into villages and cities as long as Majithia roamed as a free citizen.

Both Maheshinder Grewal and Dr Daljit Cheema said the new false case had also been registered to create pressure on the Majithia family as SAD legislator Ganieve Kaur Majithia had filed a complaint before the Chandigarh Police accusing the Vigilance Bureau of criminal trespass into her official residence in Chandigarh without a search warrant when she was in Amritsar. “The AAP government is jittery that a case will be registered against its team and that is why it has filed a counter FIR against Majithia.”

Maheshinder Grewal also informed that party president Sukhbir Singh Badal had sought an audience with the Punjab Governor on this issue but as the latter was indisposed, the meeting was likely to be held in another one week’s time. He also asserted that the party would fight this case both politically as well as in the courts. “We are determined to expose the AAP government for indulging in vendetta politics,” he added.

Answering a question about the controversy around Ananta Enclave developed by Dakha MLA Manpreet Ayali in the city, Grewal said, “It is clear that Ayali has arrived at an understanding with the AAP government as he has been allowed to build a road on government property to access his colony.”

Replying to a query, Dr Daljit Cheema said after giving jobs to outsiders and even appointing outsiders as heads of the Pollution Control Board and RERA, the AAP government had struck at the very livelihood of small contractors by making it mandatory that no tender below Rs 50 crore would be issued for repair of roads under the Mandi Board.