Action against IG ‘not enough’, Congmen want Badals booked

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

State Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today said the arrest of IG Paramraj Singh Umranangal in the police firing incident was not enough. “Akali leaders are guilty in the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firing incidents. To soothe the wounded feelings of the Sikh sangat, former CM Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Badal should be booked for murder and arrested,” said Randhawa.

The Congress minister and party MLAs from the Majha region have been pressing upon the Chief Minister to take the probe to its logical conclusion. In the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, the issue has been raised at the party level.

Randhawa’s reaction comes a day after the former Badal demanded registration of a sedition case against Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu over his comments on the Pulwama attack. “The Congress does not need a certificate in patriotism from the Akalis, who have torn apart copies of the Constitution. They should brand their alliance partner BJP as traitor whose government released terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar 20 years back,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Randhawa and Navjot Singh Sidhu took on Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in the Vidhan Sabha for his inaction against Akali leader Bikram Majthia for his alleged complicity in drug case. Both ministers have openly displayed anger against their own government by saying that the government and police were in cahoots with the Akalis.

Also, the slugfest between Sidhu and Majithia took an ugly turn when the Akalis flashed pictures of Sidhu with the Pakistan Prime Minister in the Vidhan Sabha, provoking Sidhu to question Harsimrat Badal’s presence at the Kartarpur corridor foundation stone-laying ceremony in Pakistan. Both called each other names, before Sidhu targeted his own government for allowing Majithia to have a free run.

“The government should take up the matter of early hearing in the drug-related cases with the Punjab and Haryana High Court so that the truth comes out and the cases be taken to their logical conclusion,” said a senior Congress leader.