The Hindu : Ready to face probe: Punjab CM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 05, 2003

National

National

Ready to face probe: Punjab CM

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 4. The Shiromani Akali Dal chief, Parkash Singh Badal, today dared the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, to arrest him and declared that he was prepared to face a judicial inquiry into allegations of corruption.

A day after securing the support of the Centre and the BJP in his party's political battle against the ruling Congress in Punjab, Mr. Badal reiterated that the authorities were adopting faulty procedures in moving against him and other SAD leaders.

"The Congress had promised in its manifesto to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to go into the issue of corruption. Let there be a probe by a High Court judge. If there is an iota of truth in the allegations, I shall retire from politics," he told a press conference here.

In hiss view, there were at least three reasons why the State Government was against him. One, Capt. Singh was worried about the criminal and civil case he had filed against the Chief Minister; two, the Congress leader was upset for having been denied a ticket by the SAD during the 1997 Assembly elections; and three, the Congress was traditionally opposed to the Akalis. The current action was at the behest of the Congress central leadership, he claimed.

"Whatever Amarinder Singh is doing, he is setting a wrong precedent," he said adding that the Chief Minister was acting in an undemocratic fashion. The Punjab Government was using the State Vigilance Bureau, which was directly under the Chief Minister, he alleged. The authorities were also forcing some officials, booked on charges of corruption, to `implicate' him by giving statements to that effect.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National