Punjab’s five-time Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patron Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said that the leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Khaira should tender his resignation immediately on moral and ethical grounds while maintaining that this had been his consistent stand on this issue.
“The fact of the matter is that I was the first person to ask for Khaira’s resignation on November 1, immediately after he was summoned as an accused in a cross border drug racket case with Pakistani links by a Fazilka court. I voiced this demand to newsmen at the party head office here. This is a matter of record,” he said.
Badal said that he had demanded Khaira’s resignation in the latter’s own interest as well as those of the people of the State because it was the first time that a leader of Opposition in Punjab had been accused of abetting drug smuggling and anti-national activities and even termed as kingpin of such a racket.
“I had even stated that available evidence indicated Khaira had a partnership with the accused who had been awarded maximum sentence of 20 years,” he said.
Asserting that the situation had become even more serious following the initial summoning by Fazilka court, Badal said that Khaira had filed a revision petition before the high court demanding setting aside of the lower court order which was rejected.
Khaira’s position has become untenable and he should not delay tendering his resignation any longer, he added.