Akalis want Amarinder to be 'brought back' from London

Chandigarh, Sep 13 (UNI) The war of attrition between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the opposition. Congress continued with the former demanding that former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh be 'brought' back from London to face trial and the latter questioning the legality of the his expulsion from the Vidhan Sabha and terming Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal a 'dictator'.

A joint statement issued here today by Ministers Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Hira Singh Gabria, and Parminder Singh Dhindsa, MP Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, former MLA Iqbal Inder Singh Atwal and MLA Bikram Jit Singh Khalsa demanded that the Union government and security agencies track down Capt Singh and bring him back to the country.

In this context, they pointed out that as Capt Singh was indicted by a Vidhan Sabha House Committee in a corruption case, he should be immediately brought back to face trial.

The Akali leaders asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to direct her partymen in Punjab to ''hand over Capt Singh to the people of the state''.

The Akali leaders chided the former Chief Minister for running for cover each time he apprehended a legal action on his corrupt deals or a political challenge to his self-proclaimed supremacy in his own party.

''Interestingly, he always runs to the courts after declaring he will never take an anticipatory bail and then escapes to foreign lands instead of explaining what he did with the looted crores,'' they said.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, senior Congress leader and former minister Partap Singh Bajwa alleged that the unprecedented, illegal, undemocratic expulsion of Capt Singh from the Vidhan Sabha was the latest in a long series of unethical political actions aimed at establishing the undisputed supremacy of Mr Badal in Punjab.

''This is nothing short of the actions of any dictator and Mr Badal's politics is the naked, brazen, shameless pursuit of absolute power unfettered by any of the usual checks and balances of democratic institutions,'' Mr Bajwa added.

UNI HS SKB BD1756