Akali-BJP leaders complain against CM

New Delhi, Oct 4: A delegation of Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP leaders from Punjab today called on President A P J Abdul Kalam to draw his attention to the ''dangerous neglect of the state's farmers by the policymakers in Delhi'' with the northern state not being included in the Rs 17,000 crore package announced by the Centre.

The delegation, led by former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD) and BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley, also requested Dr Kalam to order a CBI probe against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the Ludhiana ''mega land scam.'' Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, Mr Dhindsa said that while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was very generous to the problems faced by farmers in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala and had announced a Rs 17,000 crore package for them but ''did nothing to help Punjab where over 2,000 farmers had committed suicide.'' ''Because of the faulty policies adopted by the Centre, there is a serious imbalance between the costs of inputs and administered prices of major crops,'' he said, adding that farming has become ''a liability'' and the ''status of the farmer in the food bowl of the country has been reduced to a beggar''.

Alleging that the ''chosen custodians of state exchequer were indulging in large-scale loot of the exchequer through questionable and shocking deals in graft by underselling the public property to chosen favourites for an obvious consideration,'' the Akali leader said that in Ludhiana alone, the Chief Minister had personally intervened to push the project overriding the objections from senior officials and legal experts.

''The contract was given to a company with dubious antecedents and in preference to offers of much higher returns to the state from other companies,'' he said, calling for a CBI probe to ''unearth the unholy nexus.'' Mr Dhindsa and cricketer-turned-BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu also raised the issue of ''brutal police attack and molestation'' of the striking women veterinary doctors with the President.

Asked for their views regarding pardon for Mohammad Afzal, sentenced to death for his role against Parliament attack, Mr Dhindsa said the his party had not discussed the issue yet.

On his part, Mr Sidhu said he was opposed to granting pardon.

''Those who are in Congress were those who opposed for pleading for clemency for Shaheed Bhagat Singh because they were opposed to violence, but it is unfortunate that they are now pleading the cause of a person guilty for the attack on Parliament and the national sovereignty,'' he claimed.

UNI