Amloh, March 25
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring was so afraid of skeletons tumbling out of his closet that he had reversed the party’s stand calling for a CBI probe into the death of Warehousing officer Dr Gagandeep S Randhawa following a single reprimand from chief minister Bhagwant Mann. The SAD president was addressing a massive rally here as part of the party’s Punjab Bachao campaign along with senior leader Gurpreet Singh Raju Khanna.
Badal said it was astonishing that Raja Warring had started opposing the stand taken by all Congress MPs of Punjab calling for a CBI probe into the death of Dr Randhawa in writing to union home minister Amit Shah. “All it took for the CM to make Warring come to heel was a statement that the case involving the latter and his brother in law Dimpy Vinayak who forced a Faridkot businessman to commit suicide was also not sent to the CBI,” he said.
Badal asserted that Bhagwant Mann had also constantly brandished a file containing details of an Rs 100 crore scam by Raja Warring involving fabrication of 814 buses from Rajasthan despite lower quotes from Punjab fabricators during his tenure as Transport minister in 2021- 22. He said the complete cave-in by Raja Warring on this sensitive issue had made it clear that the latter was not fit to be Punjab Congress president and would only bring ruin to the party.
Asserting that Punjab needed a party and a chief minister who could bring back the era of peace and development, the SAD president said, “You have seen both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. Stop experimenting any further. Repose faith in your regional party and its leadership to put Punjab back on the path of progress and prosperity”. He also listed how the SAD had in its earlier stints in power done the utmost for farmers, traders and the poor. “We gave farmers free power facility besides making Punjab power surplus. The SAD is also responsible for introducing old age pension and innovative social welfare schemes like Aata-Dal, Shagun and SC scholarship. All these schemes are in doldrums under AAP rule”, he added.
Badal also spoke on how the AAP government had betrayed farmers at every step be it reneging on procuring Moong pulse despite official announcements and not giving compensation for the crop damage in floods last year. “The AAP government has also failed to intervene and help farmers in case of forced distress sale of commodities like potatoes which is happening right now. I assure farmers that we will direct State agencies to step in and procure all food commodities in case of any distress sale,” he stated.
