Congress MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa alleged on Wednesday that Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia was being “shielded” by his close relatives “who are enjoying supreme power in the state and Centre”.
This comes in the context of Majithia’s imminent summoning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to the larger probe into a multi-crore drug racket that has rocked Punjab and the SAD-BJP regime over the past year. Randhawa said that being the brother-in-law of the deputy CM (Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD president), Majithia has remained “totally insulated” from the investigations into the drug menace.
Punjab Congress spokesman Sukhpal Khaira also issued a statement, questioning the BJP’s silence over Majithia’s name surfacing in the ED probe. “Is the BJP afraid of the clout that Bikram Majithia wields in the corridors of power in Punjab and Delhi? Or are they afraid to lose the SAD’s support for the ensuing Delhi elections?”
Randhawa’s statement added, “Now when the ED (under Union finance minister Arun Jaitley) is investigating the matter, his sister (Harsimrat Kaur Badal), who is a cabinet minister, is protecting him by putting pressure on the ED officials,” the legislator from Dera Baba Nanak alleged, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek resignation from Harsimrat. He underlined that when the name of the son of then minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur had come up, Phillaur was “immediately sacked” by CM Parkash Singh Badal.
{{/usCountry}}Randhawa’s statement added, “Now when the ED (under Union finance minister Arun Jaitley) is investigating the matter, his sister (Harsimrat Kaur Badal), who is a cabinet minister, is protecting him by putting pressure on the ED officials,” the legislator from Dera Baba Nanak alleged, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi seek resignation from Harsimrat. He underlined that when the name of the son of then minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur had come up, Phillaur was “immediately sacked” by CM Parkash Singh Badal.
{{/usCountry}}Terming the drive of the Punjab police against drugs as “total eyewash”, Randhawa added, “The Akali-BJP government has not arrested even a single kingpin but has been harassing poor addicts who are actually victims.”
He also flayed the BJP, saying that the party’s stand on the issue remained “completely out of sync” as they were “hand in glove with the Akalis in this crime against humanity”. “After looting and abusing power for seven years, their (BJP’s) conscience seems to have woken up! People of Punjab are not naive.”
Manpreet Badal reiterates demand
People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal too reiterated Singh Majithia must resign from the cabinet, “failing which he should be sacked”, for a fair probe into the drug racket.
“Justice must not only be done but seen to be done. With Majithia’s sister being a member of the Union cabinet and his brother-in-law the deputy CM, how can the people expect free and fair probe as the investigating agency officials would be under a lot of pressure?” his statement read.