Patiala, May 15, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab has challenged Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, alleging active involvement of some Congress stalwarts in the illegal liquor factory unearthed at Ghanour, which came close on the heels of the one busted at Khanna during the lockdown, saying that he should allow Patiala police to act impartially and without any political interference to bring the ultimate truth to the fore.
The party leaders, led by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday submitted a memorandum to Patiala Police Chief Mandeep Singh Sidhu, demanding a free and fair inquiry into the incident and exemplary action against those behind the illegal liquor trade.
Others who were accompanying him included, Gerry Birring, Harchand Singh Bursat, Dr. Balbir Singh, Gagandeep Singh Chadha, Nina Mittal, Chetan Singh Jore Majra, Tejinder Mehta, Inderjit Singh Sandhu, Jarnail Manu, Dev Mann and others.
Talking to the media later, Harpal Singh Cheema said that unearthing of this illegal liquor factory after the Khanna incident earlier, it was crustal-clear that the ruling Congress leaders were behind the powerful liquor mafia in the state, in the manner the erstwhile Badal government was running the drug, sand and transport mafia in the state without the scantest fear of the law.
Cheema, while releasing pictures of the accused with the who’s who of the Congress top brass, including Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar, MP from Patiala and wife of Chief Minister Preneet Kaur and Congress MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur from Ghanour, said nothing was left to speculation.
Cheema said that now it remained to be seen whether the Chief Minister allowed the state police act according to law or exerted political pressure to extend cover to the Congress stalwarts allegedly involved in running the liquor mafia in the state.
The LoP, referring to the clean images of Patiala Police Chief Mandeep Singh Sidhu as an upright officer, said the Patiala Police under his command would take exemplary action against all those behind the liquor mafia and without any political pressure, howsoever powerful and influential they might be.
Cheema further said that if the government wanted to eradicate liquor mafia, the constitution of Liquor Corporation was the need of the hour. He also demanded the setting up of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry under the supervision of High Court for a time-bound probe into the ‘open loot’ of the public exchequer.
The LoP said that if the Congress government could not do so, the AAP, if voted to power in the 2022 assembly elections, the AAP would take hard decisions in the interest of Punjab and its people howsoever high and mighty they might be.
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