Chandigarh, January 13
Buoyed by Congress former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh taking a stand against his party's demand for a CBI probe into the alleged politician-police drug nexus, SAD on Monday charged Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa with being hand in glove with arrested druglord Jagdish Singh Bhola. SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, general secretary Balwinder Singh Bhunder, secretary Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and CM’s advisor Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal accused Bajwa of having a nexus with “drug smugglers, call girl rackets and terrorists”.

They said he has had a close association with Bhola for more than a decade now.

“Bhola was arrested by the Punjab Police on charges of drug smuggling in November 2002, but after the Congress came to power, Bajwa — then a powerful minister — got an inquiry marked into his arrest by the then DGP and got him exonerated. In 2006, an official in the Intelligence wing of the police had given a report stating that Bajwa’s close associates and Bhola were involved in the illicit drug business,” Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal said.

As Bhola is Bajwa’s aide, he has named Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia at his behest, they claimed. “The Congress is trying to weave a conspiracy. The day Bhola named Majithia (in the drug racket), another Congress leader filed a writ in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the same day Bajwa said they will gherao the Chief Minister. It’s a planned conspiracy to destabilise the SAD-BJP government and the development work initiated by it,” they said.

The leaders also rejected the Congress demand for a CBI probe, calling the CBI the ‘Congress Bureau of Investigation’. “Law and order is a state subject and should be left to the state government to handle. The law will take its own course and the involved, however powerful, will be brought to book,” said Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

The leaders also said Bajwa and his brother Fateh Jung Bajwa had patronised and protected a terrorist named Manjit Singh Qadian in 1992. Qadian had planned to assassinate then chief minister Beant Singh, they claimed and showed photos of Fateh Jung Bajwa, allegedly in police custody, that were published in a news magazine.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) vice-presidents Randip Singh Nabha, Surinderpal Singh Sibia and CD Kamboj refuted the SAD leaders’ allegations and described it as a ploy to divert the focus of the drug racket from Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia. They said the Congress would not allow the SAD-BJP government to escape the responsibility of promoting the drug mafia in Punjab.

They said Bajwa was ready to face a CBI probe into allegations against him. “Let Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal answer one simple question: Why he is scared of a CBI probe? If Mr Majithia is innocent, he will come out clean,” they said.