A joint delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Friday urged Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit to order a probe into Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s allegations that its legislators were offered hundreds of crores as bribes to topple the government.
SAD legislature party leader Manpreet Singh Ayali, Dr Sukhwinder Kumar and Ganieve Kaur Majithia, besides Nachhatar Pal from the BSP, urged the governor to hold AAP accountable for squandering public funds on a public relations exercise aimed at furthering the party’s agenda at the cost of the state’s exchequer.
Speaking to mediapersons, Ayali said the AAP government was violating parliamentary norms and abusing the mandate of Punjabis, adding that finance minister Harpal Cheema submitted a complaint to the state DGP, claiming that its legislators were offered bribes of ₹10 crore each to switch sides.
“Even though the complaint was submitted on September 14, no one has been named in the case and no arrests have been made even after fifteen days,” said Ayali.
The SAD-BSP delegation had urged the governor to order a central probe by the CBI or ED into the allegations or direct the government to initiate a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the high court or Supreme Court.
{{/usCountry}}The SAD-BSP delegation had urged the governor to order a central probe by the CBI or ED into the allegations or direct the government to initiate a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the high court or Supreme Court.
{{/usCountry}}“The mobile phones of the legislators concerned need to be seized and subjected to forensic examination,” he added.
Later speaking on the matter, SAD’s former minister Bikram Singh Majithia asked Bhagwant Mann government to stop ruining Punjab’s finances for the “sake of political ambitions of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal” and asked the government to stop wasting ₹2 crore a day on “fake advertisements”.
“Instead, provide compensation to farmers who have suffered heavy losses due to rains and lumpy skin disease in cattle,” demanded Majithia.
In a press statement issued here, the SAD leader all this was being done to mislead the people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where elections are round the corner.