Congress ousted Capt Amarinder as he shielded Badals in sacrilege cases: Pargat Singh

Former Punjab Congress vice-president Pargat Singh on Tuesday said his party had removed Capt Amarinder Singh from the Chief Minister’s post as he had “entered a pact” with the Badals over the probe in the 2015 sacrilege cases.

He said when Charanjit Singh Channi assumed charge as the CM at the fag end of the previous Congress regime, he was left with little time to bring the probe to its conclusion following years of delay.

The Congress leader also dared CM Bhagwant Mann to come clean on the delay in the investigation against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the sacrilege incidents.

The alleged desecration of a religious text at two gurdwaras in Faridkot’s Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala villages had taken place when the SAD-BJP was in power, with Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal occupying positions of the CM and Deputy CM, respectively.

Pargat Singh’s remarks have come as ruling AAP and SAD chief Sukhbir Badal have accused the Congress of “shielding” perpetrators of the incidents. The Congress leader told reporters that former CM Amarinder Singh, who is now with the BJP, went soft on the probe.He said the Congress government led by Channi did what it could in 100 days of tenure.

“After Channi took over as the CM, the SIT (formed to probe the cases) twice questioned the Dera Sacha Sauda chief in the Sunaria jail of Rohtak over the sacrilege cases and once questioned him in the Maur Blast case,” he said.

“In the sacrilege case, the Dera chief was also named in the supplementary challan filed in court,” he said, adding that the AAP government did nothing in last three years, except from bringing a legislation on sacrilege.

Hitting out at Sukhbir, he accused him of “politicising the issue just to keep it unresolved”. He alleged that the BJP and AAP were hand in glove in protecting the dera chief during their tenure. “Bhagwant Mann claims to have granted prosecution sanction for the dera in the sacrilege cases, but the CM must clarify the current status. AAP has suppressed the case. Not a single AAP MLA ever raised the issue,” he claimed. “The cases against dera followers were transferred outside Punjab under a conspiracy,” he alleged.