Chandigarh, June 21
Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today reportedly briefed the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in Delhi that he and his family are being “targeted” and “mentally” harassed by the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh.
Sources close to the former Chief Minister said Mr Badal spent quite sometime with the Prime Minister. He told him that how his close relations were “arrested and tortured by the police” in recent days. Sources said the Prime Minister had expressed surprise “over the turn of events in this regard” in Punjab.
Sources said Mr Badal also conveyed to the Prime Minister his inability to attend the meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) held in the evening. Mr Badal was to attend a marriage in the family of close relations of his son, Mr Sukhbir Badal, in the evening in Delhi. The marriage function coincided with the NDA meeting.
New Delhi: The NDA meeting on Saturday decided to send a team to Punjab to assess the ground situation following the alleged witch-hunt lodged by the Congress-led Punjab Government against Akali leaders, including the SAD president Parkash Singh Badal.
Talking to The Tribune, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP chief whip in the Lok Sabha, said he raised the issue in the meeting and the allies were sympathetic to the proposal of sending a team to Punjab.
The meeting, however, did not decide who would lead the team, its constituents or by when it would submit its report. Mr Malhotra stated that the composition of the team and its timeframe would be decided by next week.
