Congress asks Badal to resign on moral grounds

Chandigarh, Mar 15 (UNI) The Congress today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, on the grounds that he had been served a charge sheet by a Ropar court in a disproportionate assets case.

''Mr Badal should resign immediately as he has no moral right to continue as Chief Minister'', former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh told mediapersons after a meeting of the Congress legislative party just before the commencement of the first session of the 13th Vidhan Sabha here.

Expressing apprehensions about the course of trial in the case against Mr Badal, his wife Surinder Kaur and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, an MP from Faridkot, Capt Singh said the trial should be shifted out of the state. To support his point, the former chief minister pointed out that the Vigilance Bureau (VB), which had presented the charge sheet, was under the jurisdiction of Mr Badal.

The case involving disproportionate assets of Rs 78 crore was filed by the VB against the Badal's during the tenure of the previous Congress government.The Special Ropar court hearing the case had on March 13 farmed charges against Mr Badal, his wife, son and seven others.

Alleging the SAD-BJP government had begun to adopt a vindictive attitude towards Congress leaders and activists, Capt Singh alleged his partymen were being implicated in false cases. Elaborating his charges, he claimed that Jasbir Singh Dimpa who had lost the Beas assembly election had been framed in a false case.

Leader of the opposition in the assembly, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who was also present at the press briefing, warned Mr Badal against adopting a vindictive approach towards political opponents.

''The Congress has 44 MLAs in the House and they will not tolerate any such attitude'', she said adding the government should not expect cooperation from the opposition under such circumstances.

Referring to wide spread damage caused to the wheat crop in Punjab due to rains and hail, Mrs Bhattal demanded the affected farmers be paid a compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre of the damaged crop.

UNI