Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday threatened to go on an indefinite fast if his party’s state government does not make public the SIT report on the drug menace.
Mr. Sidhu also once again questioned the state government over the steps taken for ensuring justice in desecration cases.
"If the Punjab government does not make (STF) report public, then Sidhu will proceed on fast unto death," he said taking on his own government while addressing a gathering in Moga’s Baghapurana.
"Thousands of youth got destroyed due to drugs, mothers lost their sons. There is no court order which bars making the report public. Who stops you from making the report public," Mr. Sidhu asked.
"We need to know why the previous chief minister sat on this report," he added.
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On cases related to the desecration of a religious text in 2015, he said, "Sidhu is again seeking justice for sacrilege." The Congress leader had recently demanded that the report of the special task force on the drug menace be made public and a time-bound probe be initiated to catch the "big fish responsible for narco-terrorism".
During a press conference earlier this month, Mr. Sidhu had questioned the state government over the steps taken for ensuring delivery of justice in desecration cases.
On the STF report, Mr. Sidhu had said, "Hon'ble HC supplied a copy of STF report on drugs to the government. But instead of proceeding as per law, we are sitting on the STF report since February 2018. Even we have failed to extradite the other accused in this multi-crore drugs case. The solution is to catch and punish the big fish." Mr. Sidhu had earlier been at loggerheads with Amarinder Singh, who had quit the Congress recently after his unceremonious exit as the CM.
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After Charanjit Singh Channi took over reins, Mr. Sidhu opposed the appointment of A.P.S. Deol as the state's advocate general as he had represented former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in cases related to the 2015 police firing incidents after the desecration of a religious text.
Recently, Mr. Deol was replaced as the AG.
Mr. Sidhu had even stepped down as the Punjab Congress chief over appointments of Mr. Deol and Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota as the director general of police.
Later, Mr. Sidhu withdrew his resignation but put a precondition that he would resume the charge the day a new advocate general was appointed and a panel for the appointment of a new director general of police came from the UPSC.
On November 9, Mr. Channi had announced that the resignation of Mr. Deol had been accepted after which new AG was appointed.
On November 16, Mr. Sidhu resumed the charge at the party's state office.
