SAD demands dismissal of Congress-led Punjab government

Majithia seeks high-level probe in ‘Rs 2,000-crore liquor scam’

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday urged Punjab governor V P Singh Badnore to dismiss the state government on grounds of breakdown of the constitutional machinery even as it condemned Congress ministers for browbeating the executive in the meeting of council of ministers.

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Addressing the media here, former minister and SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said the state cabinet should resign on moral grounds or be dismissed for refusing to acknowledge the head of civil services appointed by the chief minister. He also made it clear that the entire drama had been enacted by the ministers to safeguard their illegitimate loot at the cost of the state exchequer.

Majithia added that the ministers took on the chief secretary because the latter had earlier pointed out in a pre-cabinet meeting that the state had incurred revenue loss because Congressmen were patronising illicit liquor, with special reference to Bathinda district. “A free and fair inquiry by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court is needed to unravel the Rs 2,000-crore scam,” he demanded.

The SAD leader said Karan Avtar Singh was handpicked by the government by superseding other officers. He said that the officer had always been given outstanding reports during the Congress regime, but had now turned “bad” suddenly four months before his retirement. “It is clear that the ministers have ganged up against him as he is the last defence and bulwark of the system,” Majithia alleged.

Holding finance minister (FM) Manpreet Singh Badal solely responsible for the current state of affairs, Majithia said the FM had announced only a short while ago that the state was revenue surplus. “Now, he is stating the opposite even though the lockdown happened in the last week of March when the financial year closes,” he added.

Stating that it was the people who were suffering while Congress ministers tried to bully bureaucrats to do their bidding, the Akali leader said Punjab had the worst mortality rate in the country as far as Covid-19 was concerned. He said even as the health system was in a shambles, people were being denied ration which had led to one suicide already.