Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday challenged State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa to act upon his words of “taking action against him”.
“This is the appropriate time, let us hear and see what he intends doing!” said the permanent invitee of an all-powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC), in an official statement. Capt Amarinder was reacting to Bajwa’s statement he made a couple of days ago while participating in a event at Barnala, that ‘action will be taken against him at the appropriate time’ for levelling “false” allegations against him.
Notably, Capt Amarinder has allegedly accused Bajwa of indulging in gold and drug smuggling by writing a letter to the Congress national president Sonia Gandhi during his term as the Chief Minister. Irked, Capt Amarinder, in fact, reminded Bajwa that the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), which he was heading, comes under the CWC of which he is a member. “Unfortunately, Bajwa seems to be unaware that the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) comes under the CWC and not the other way around,” he pointed out. Going a step further, Capt Amarinder lay blame on the State party chief for “dramatising the CBI approach” to “divert” the controversy raised on the issue of PPCC office bearers list. Former Chief Minister also blamed Bajwa for overlooking the “deserving” and obliging his honeybunches.
“This whole business of dramatising the CBI approach is meant to divert the opinion in the party, which has split down the center on the question of leaving deserving and senior members out as office bearers of the executive and the district congress committees where many presidents who have done exceedingly well in their districts were removed to accommodate favourites,” he added.
Capt Amarinder added, over the last two days some people have attributed motives to his statement. “These are the same people who have been his detractors over the past twenty years…they are also well aware that their statements in the past have never cost him a good night’s sleep and neither does it now, and they are the last people he requires a clean chit from,” he added.
Both senior leaders are at loggerheads recently over the issue of transferring the investigations in the Rs 6,000 drug case to the central investigating agency. While Bajwa is leading the party’s agitation seeking CBI probe, Capt Amarinder derailed the same by opposing the demand.