The poll process for the local governments including 123 municipal bodies and nagar panchayats in Punjab started on violent note with the BJP minister in the State cabinet, Anil Joshi accusing the members of the “team” of an Akali Minister for carrying out a murderous attack on his brother within the office complex of the Deputy Commissioner of Tarn Taran district.
Though nobody was hurt in the incident, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal after consultations with the president of the State unit of the BJP, Kamal Sharma ordered the setting up of a special investigation team (SIT), comprising Inspector General of Police (IGP) for the Border Range, Ishwar Chander and Commissioner of the Amritsar police, Jatinder Singh Aulakh.
Despite recent estrangement, the Akali Dal and BJP have decided to retain their alliance for the civic polls though distribution of tickets remains to be resolved.
The polling is scheduled for February 25.
Talking to reporters in Wednesday, where he showed a video recording of the attack, Mr. Joshi who holds the portfolios of Local government, Medical education and Research, demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
The Minister said that if the state authorites did not act, he would approach the BJP president, Amit Shah and the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh to seek their immediate intervention in the matter.
Mr. Joshi also wanted an end to the harassment of BJP workers allegedly by the Akali Dal cadres across the state.
