With the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, the politics surrounding the Bargari sacrilege episode of 2015 is gaining traction in Punjab with the ruling Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal getting ready to corner each other on the politically sensitive issue.
A day after Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hinted that a “high-profile” person may soon face action in the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura police firing incidents, former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said the sole purpose of setting up the Special Investigation Team and the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission by the Congress government was “drama”.
“Capt. Amarinder’s only aim is to put me behind bars. I am ready to offer myself for arrest any day, any time and anywhere Capt. Amarinder wants me to, so that the energies of the government machinery are not frittered away and the State can move on with the job of normal governance,” he said.
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Mr. Badal said Capt. Amarinder and his senior political colleagues have abandoned even the need to pretend to respect the law of the land and have been openly declaring the outcome of the probe even before SIT completes its investigation.
“It was the same with the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission probe in which the Chief Minister declared me guilty even before setting up the Commission. He has now gone to the extent of declaring on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha that his vendetta will reach the ‘highest level’. Everyone knows what he means by ‘the highest level’. So why waste the State’s time on hypocrisy? I offer myself for arrest so that the State’s energies are not put to destructive waste any longer,” Mr. Badal told reporters here.
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“I rang up the Director General of Police today and conveyed to him that I was available in Chandigarh for arrest and could wait if they needed time. Otherwise, I am available for arrest whenever, wherever,” said Mr. Badal.