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Jalandhar, October 26
Despite 40 Congress MLAs repeatedly demanding action against former Akali minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia for his alleged role in a high-profile drugs case, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today said he could not override the investigations already underway by Central agencies.
Ignoring Local Bodies Minister Navjot Sidhu’s ‘jija-sala dak deyange’ (will put former Deputy CM and his brother-in-law behind bars) rant at a Congress workers’ meeting in the city earlier in the day, the CM said: “You must understand a government does not arrest anyone just for the sake of it. You must have concrete evidence. You cannot out of the air send anyone behind bars. We have set up a high-powered Special Task Force (STF) to check drugs. On the Majithia issue, the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department, Narcotics Control Bureau and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence are already on the job, and we cannot override them.”
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Emphasising that the STF needed to have concrete proof to proceed against anybody, he said he had instructed the DGP to assist the agencies wherever required.
On the apparent contradiction in his stand and that of his party MLAs on the issue, he replied: “I too think like them, but I cannot arrest him. I believe a lot of other Akalis may be involved, too, but we cannot act without evidence.” He ended the discussion, declaring: “No one involved in the drug racket will be spared, even if it is Majithia”.
On Sidhu’s disparaging remarks about Sukhbir and Majithia (“lambu and dabbu”), he said every politician had his own “way of speaking”. — TNS
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