Ready to give up Punjab Home Ministry if Sidhu wants it: Dy CM Randhawa

Chandigarh, January 3

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Monday said he is ready to give up his Home portfolio if state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu wants it for himself.

Randhawa’s statement came as Sidhu has been questioning his party’s government in the state for not being able to arrest Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been booked in a drug case under the NDPS Act.

Sidhu said nothing would happen with the registration of an FIR against the Akali leader, saying he would not rest till Majithia is arrested.

“If my brother (Sidhu) says that he wants the Home Ministry, then I will immediately put it at his feet,” said Randhawa while talking to reporters here.

Ever since he became the Home Minister, Sidhu has been upset with him, added Randhawa. 

The Punjab Deputy Chief Minister also denied the allegation that the state government did not want to arrest Majithia. He said Majithia is not in Punjab and he is not carrying his mobile phone.

If he is spotted anywhere here, then Majithia will be arrested within a second, he said as he dubbed fake some photos of the Akali leader, which showed him at the Golden Temple complex. 

Randhawa said Majithia is also not abroad as a lookout circular, which prevents a person from leaving the country, had been issued against him.

Randhawa said no security person was accompanying Majithia. “He is alone and he is not carrying his mobile phone,” said Randhawa.

Replying to a question, Randhawa said Majithia had been booked under the non-bailable provisions of the NDPS Act.

Asked if he is facing any sort of pressure, Randhawa denied it and said had there been any pressure, how could an FIR be registered against Majithia. 

Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on the basis of a 2018 report of a probe into a drug racket in the state.

Majithia is the brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal. 

Besides Sidhu, the Aam Aadmi Party has been attacking the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government for not being able to arrest Majithia despite several days passing since the registration of the FIR. 

AAP leader Raghav Chadha on Sunday had alleged the Channi-led Government did not want to arrest Majithia as there was a “setting” between it and the Badals. PTI