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Jakhar and some senior leaders of the party visited the house of the deceased ASI at this village on Thursday to express their grief over his death and met the aggrieved family members. Prominent among those who accompanied Jakhar included MLAs Sukhbinder Singh Sukh Sarkaria, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Dr Raj Kumar Verka, vice-chairman of the National Commission for SCs and STs. The district Congress chiefs of Amritsar and Tarn Taran were also present.

Later, addressing mediapersons at Amritsar, Jakhar claimed that Badal had no control over the administrative machinery in the state. Parallel centres of power were functioning in all three regions of the state over whom Badal had no control, he said, while refusing to elaborate when questioned by mediapersons.

"Either the CM should take stringent measures to end the Talibani raj or he should quit. It is up to the CM to decide if he wants to rule or not," Jakhar said while referring to the Faridkot abduction case and Wednesday's incident at Amritsar.

Claiming that the police had lost their spine, the CLP leader said the ASI's murder should serve a wakeup call for police, who had become puppets in the hands of their political masters. At least someone in the police department should have the courage to stand up to the wrongdoings of political leaders, he suggested.

"Goonda raj" was prevailing in the state with gun-wielding property dealers, drug peddlers and other anti-social elements having a field day, he claimed. Jakhar pointed out that instead of taking prompt action against the culprit in the Faridkot abduction case, the government allowed the case to drag and acted only when public built the pressure.

"Had the government acted in a responsible manner in the abduction case, perhaps the ASI's murder would not have taken place," he said while making it clear that he was not here to gain political mileage from the incident.