M A I N   N E W S

Badal hits back, launches counter-attack against CM
R. Suryamurthy
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7
Pushed to a corner, the Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today launched a counter-offensive against the Amarinder Singh government by accusing it of financial irregularities and creating fissures in the society.

In a 25-point chargesheet against the government, Mr Badal accused the Congress-led state government of adopting a policy of political vindictiveness against the main Opposition party.

Talking to The Tribune, the former Chief Minister declined the need for sending a NDA team to the state to assess the ground reality. “They (NDA team) should have come earlier....now it is too late. We know how to fight the battle....we fought Emergency,” he said.

Asked about the SAD-BJP relationship and the possible snapping of ties between the two parties before the general election, Mr Badal categorically stated that “We have extended unconditional support to the NDA government. Our ties with the BJP are very old and would continue even after the Lok Sabha polls.”

Blaming the politics of the Congress for the caste violence in the state, Mr Badal said “We ruled the state for five years and there was no caste violence. Why is it happening now? It is because of the divide-and-rule-policy of the Congress.”

He said the real reason for Amarinder Singh launching a ‘witch hunt’ against the SAD leaders was that the Maharaja of Patiala had been denied Akali Dal ticket to contest the polls. And also the civil and criminal cases lodged against Mr Amarinder Singh for alleging that he (Mr Badal) owned properties abroad, he added.

The conclave in Manji Sahib on July 16 would be a political mobilisation exercise to take the issue directly to the people and expose the misdeeds of the Congress government.

On the bifurcation of roles of the two leaders of the two factions which recently merged for the ‘unity of the panth’, Mr Badal said the roles would be discussed after July 16 and a decision would be arrived at soon.

The SAD chief, however, indicated that the veteran Akali leader, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, would be given a free hand in the affairs of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC). Mr Tohra was at the helm of the SGPC for over two decades.

About the panchayat elections, where the Akali leaders did not fare well, Mr Badal claimed that the elections were not free and fair.

“There is no democracy in Punjab and no code of conduct was followed during the polls,” he alleged.

He said the main agenda of the vindictive policy of the Congress government was to demoralise the SAD members and party workers.

Mr Badal accused the Vigilance Department of the state of acting as a ‘stooge’ of the political leadership and acting in a partisan manner.

He alleged that the Principal Secretary to CM, Mr S K Sinha, had been involved in a recruitment scam and the government had not taken any action against him so far.

Charging that the online lottery contract was a big scam, the SAD chief accused the Amarinder Singh government of stating “leisure and pleasure culture in the state. The CM’s own photographs with a woman are being published....but he has not been able to clear his position so far.”

“Two senior ministers of the government have been involved in the infamous Gujarat sex scandal. But the Congress party has failed to take any action against them so far. Rather the CM gave them the clean chit,” he alleged in the chargesheet.

The chargesheet accused the government of not taking up the farmers’ case with the Centre, stalling the development work in the state, financial irregularities and the Congress party’s interference in the religious affairs of the Sikhs, especially the functioning of the SGPC. 

Forest Hill MD’s rebuttal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 7
Lt-Col B.S. Sandhu (retd.), Chairman and Managing Director, Forest Hill Resorts (FHR), Naya Gaon, in a Press statement here today has contested the claims made in the advertisement issued by the Publicity Secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal, in The Tribune on the last page dated July 7, 2003, under heading ‘‘From Bankrupt to Billionaire.’’

He clarified that application for sanction of FHR was submitted to PUDA in August 1988. Thereafter many meetings were held by PUDA with the promoters. In December, he said, through a government notification blanket sanction was given to regularise all constructions that were made by that time.

Mr Sandhu claimed that the FHR was set up on the agricultural land, which was not under the provision of the Forest Act. This land had been under cultivation for the past 40 years and was recorded as such in the revenue records of the state government. The allegations of encroachment of forest land, and funds paid for helicopter expenses were totally baseless.