The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday said Punjab Congressmen should first explain how their State president Capt Amarinder Singh had stashed crores abroad in Swiss banks before talking about legitimate businesses of SAD leaders.
“Isn’t it true that Amarinder is a failed businessman who had tried his hand at even growing mushrooms without any success,” said senior SAD leader and spokesperson Manjinder Singh Sirsa adding that it was also true that the company formed for this purpose, Teg Masrado, had a Director who sold cloth on a footpath in Kolkatta.
The company had income of Rs nine to Rs 13 lakh for two successive years when it did not do any canning but acquired property worth crores and also advanced crores to Capt Amarinder, he said.
Sirsa said that it was also a matter of record that Capt Amarinder had defaulted on payment of electricity dues for his palace residence at Patiala before becoming chief minister of the State. He also owed money to the bank which had pasted notices on the gate of his palace.
“There was an immediate turnaround after Amarinder came to power and even a failed and defunct company like Teg Masrado started dealing in crores…Even his senior colleague and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had gone on record to talk about this turn around…Bhattal had pointed out that Amarinder's residence had acquired a new coat of paint along with installation of air conditioners only when he became chief minister of Punjab,” he said.
“It is clear that you came into money only after you (Amarinder) became chief minister of the State since you had squandered off your family wealth in the interim…There was no other reason for you to launder money through the intranet scam,” Sirsa added.
Giving more details about Amarinder's “ill-gotten” wealth, the Akali leader said that the Congress leader should explain why he had foreign accounts abroad when he had no known sources of income.
Sirsa said while Amarinder Singh was involved in many scams including the intranet scam, ludhiana City Centre scam and Amritsar Improvement Trust scam, his party colleagues were no less.
“Amarinder's tenure in office was also famous for the bitumen scam and Gujarat call girl scam,” he added.