Punjab Congress on Friday said that BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu had only reinforced the charge of discrimination levelled against Badal government that calls for explanation from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
“The issues raised by BJP MP from Amritsar are not just BJP’s internal matter as the same are related to the style of governance of this government which has been reduced to Badal and Badal limited. Badal must own moral responsibility and resign,” said the Congress vice presidents OP Soni, Tarlochan Soond, Charanjit Singh Channi, in a joint statement.
They said that Sidhu’s prolonged absence from his constituency could not be condoned on any excuse as it amounted to betrayal with the people but the very issues he had raised about being discriminated against by Badal government were all the more serious and amounted to indictment of this government, not from an outsider, but from a member of the alliance itself.
Punjab Congress said that it was too well known a fact that Sidhu was being sabotaged by an influential Akali Minister there who wanted the Akali Dal to swap Amritsar seat with the BJP for ludhiana as a family member of the minister was ambitious for this seat.
The leaders said yet another indictment of Badal government had come from none else but his PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon who had castigated this government for reeking with corruption. They said Dhillon had gone on record saying that it was not just his department which was corrupt but so was the case with other departments in the government.
Punjab Congress said that these charges were not being leveled by Congress which Badal could dismiss as politically motivated but the very people from the Akali Dal-BJP alliance. “Badal must own moral responsibility for non-governance, discrimination in the allotment of grants and stinking corruption in the administration and quit. Winning elections is different from providing good governance and the father-son duo has failed to perform,” they added.