Capt returns to House, takes on those behind ‘vendetta politics’

Referring to the Governor’s Address, Amarinder said the state Government had misled the Governor by making him read a speech that was full of untruth. Referring to the claim of the Government that when he demitted office, the state was in the red by over Rs 50,000 crore, Amarinder said, “From 2002, when my Government took oath, to 2007, the state’s revenue turned from a deficit of Rs 3,781 crore to a surplus of Rs 2,023 crore, while the committed expenditure on revenue deficit reduced from 118 per cent to 63 per cent. While the plan performance was 65 per cent during the regime of the previous Badal Government, during my Government it went up to 143 per cent in 2006-07.”

Amarinder claimed that by re-negotiating the Bathinda refinery project, his government had saved Rs 12,000 crore for the state. Referring to the Government’s claim on building six-lane and four-lane roads in the state, Amarinder asked the Government how many such projects had actually been started. On the Government claim that it would add 5000 MW of power in the next three-and-a-half years, he asked, “All plans need gestation period. How you will add 5000 MW within this time? My request is buy power from other states so that rural and urban areas do not suffer due to power cuts.”

Further, Amarinder said increase in MSP was not the answer to farmers’ problems. He also accused the Badal Government of diverting fund earmarked by his government for conservation of a fort at Bathinda to set up a shooting range in Badal village. On the allegation that his Government pursued vendetta politics, Amarinder said everything that his government did against the Badals was result of investigations. “Even the Supreme Court held that the charges against the Badal family had merit prima facie. But, what this Government is indulging in is vendetta. My DGP (SS Virk) was picked up at 4 am as if he was a thief,” he asserted.

He alleged that SAD(B) president Sukhbir Badal is physically present inside the Ropar court to ensure that witnesses turn hostile. “I want to know who is running the Government — Sukhbir or Parkash Singh Badal?” he said while interacting with the media in the lobby of the Vidhan Sabha.

Referring to the controversial statement made before the court by Surinderpal Singh Virk, in which he claimed that he merely signed statements of the prosecution witnesses on the asking of the then Vigilance Bureau DIG B K Uppal, Amarinder said, “It is unheard of that the investigating officer in such an important case turns hostile. How can he say that he signed whatever he was given to sign? We have moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the cases outside Punjab and for re-investigation by the CBI or any other Central agency.”