Senior Punjab Congress leader Jagmeet Brar has questioned the silence of the party high command on a letter from Captain Amarinder Singh that Partap Singh Bajwa, who has since replaced the former chief minister as state party president, had "terror and drug" links.
In a statement to Hindustan Times, Brar, who was also a contender for the place that Bajwa took, mentioned his surprise that the party high command had ignored the advice of its former CM, then state Congress chief, and not looked into the serious allegations.
Stating that it was a turning point in the Punjab Congress politics, Brar said: "The high command needs to clear the air on Amarinder's letter. If it doesn't, with what face will it fight the Lok Sabha elections? We will end up (on the losing side) with a score line of 13-0 by showing there's a big difference between what we say and whom we appoint to head our state units."
Brar, who had last week filed a public-interest petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court for letting the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) look into the drug nexus exposed during the interrogation of druglord Jagdish Bhola, said during the next hearing on January 20, he will appeal to the court that the CBI probe had become all the more imperative in view of allegations surfacing against leaders from both the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
A former permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), he also took potshots at present permanent invitee to the CWC, Captain Amarinder Singh, saying he would request him not to "play politics over drugs". "Captain now sings praises of Punjab Police. It was the same DGP (director general of police) because of whom he faces court cases. He now calls Punjab Police free and fair. At this juncture, when the big fish in the ruling party are almost caught, he has betrayed the daughters, mothers and sisters in 12, 000 villages of Punjab that reel under the menace of drugs."
{{/usCountry}}A former permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), he also took potshots at present permanent invitee to the CWC, Captain Amarinder Singh, saying he would request him not to "play politics over drugs". "Captain now sings praises of Punjab Police. It was the same DGP (director general of police) because of whom he faces court cases. He now calls Punjab Police free and fair. At this juncture, when the big fish in the ruling party are almost caught, he has betrayed the daughters, mothers and sisters in 12, 000 villages of Punjab that reel under the menace of drugs."
{{/usCountry}}"I don't want any political position," said Brar, adding: "It is a question of our race, and I appeal to the high court to order a CBI probe, as Punjab Police investigation is an eyewash that will nail only small peddlers and let off the kingpin politicians."