Chandigarh, August 20
The Punjab Congress on Saturday demanded a CBI probe into the excise policy brought out by the Bhagwant Mann government. It said the inquiry should be on the similar lines as being done by the Central agency in case of AAP’s excise policy in Delhi.
PCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa and other senior leaders held a press conference here today. The leaders said they would meet Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, demanding a CBI probe into the excise policy. They alleged that same set of officials and contractors, who were involved in Delhi, had role here. Former Deputy Chief Ministers OP Soni and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former ministers Brahm Mohindra, Sukh Sarkaria, Pargat Singh, Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, Raj Kumar Chabbewal and Sanjay Talwar were also present.
“Like Delhi, the liquor policy in Punjab is a sellout. AAP leaders in connivance with some senior officials have defrauded the state by thousands of crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of Punjabi traders jobless,” said Bajwa.
“Let the two ministers concerned heading the excise and the mining ministries in Punjab be ready for the same fate as that of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in Delhi,” he said, adding that the party would seek a probe by a Central agency against the illegal sand mining going on in border areas. The Border Security Force had even warned that it was a threat to national security, he said.
Alleging political vendetta by the AAP government against its leaders, the Punjab Congress declared that the entire state leadership will present itself before the Vigilance Bureau on Monday as it was fed up with the daily dose of allegations against its leaders by the government.
