M A I N   N E W S

NDA team to visit Punjab, says Dhindsa
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 10
Seeking to rubbish reports that the SAD was averse to visit of an NDA team to Punjab, the Union Minister and senior Akali leader, Mr S.S. Dhindsa, said today that the team would be visiting Punjab shortly.

“The NDA team will be visiting Punjab after the Akhand Path to be performed on July 16 in Amritsar,” Mr Dhindsa told a press conference in the presence of the BJP leaders Mr V.K. Malhotra and Mr Madan Lal Khurana, at the BJP headquarters here.

“The date and time will be decided by the NDA,” Mr Dhindsa said. The four-member team will be headed by a senior BJP leader, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

SAD, BJP train guns on Amarinder
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 10
In an obvious tit-for-tat move, the SAD and the BJP today launched a counter-offensive against Capt Amarinder Singh by demanding the Centre to take action against the Punjab Chief Minister’s alleged evasion of customs duty worth crores.

Addressing a joint press conference here, BJP leaders Madal Lal Khurana and Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Union Minister and SAD leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said they had handed over a letter to Finance Minister Jaswant Singh yesterday demanding initiation of proceedings against Capt Amarinder Singh for the evasion of customs duty and penalty there on as per the order of the Central Excise Commissioner.

They also urged the Finance Minister to find out through revenue intelligence how Capt Amarinder Singh returned a loan of Rs 9 crore soon after he became the Chief Minister, Mr Khurana told newspersons here.

Releasing their three-page letter to the Finance Minister, Mr Khurana accused Capt Amarinder Singh of using his influence to avoid paying the customs duty and penalty there on.

The three leaders said he owed Rs 9 crore to a nationalised bank before he became the Chief Minister. “This amount was paid after he became the Chief Minister. The source of this amount of Rs 9 crore should be investigated,” Mr Khurana said.

Mr Dhindsa said contrary to the promise made by the Congress in its manifesto to set up a commission to probe corruption cases, Capt Amarinder Singh had been trying to harass political opponents.

“We challenge him to set up a commission headed by a sitting high court judge and allow people to file complaints against both Congress and SAD leaders,” he said.

Mr Malhotra said despite the Vigilance Bureau raiding several places within the country and abroad it had failed to gather evidence against SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal and others.

Asked why the BJP had raised the customs duty evasion case, which purportedly took place in 1996, Mr Khurana said: “I only got the confidential papers pertaining to the issue day before yesterday...Had I got them earlier, I would have revealed it earlier.”

Asked from where he got the papers, he said: “I got it from a Congress leader in Punjab.”