Govt takes sting out of Oppn’s drug attack - Warring issue has Opposition on backfoot in Vidhan Sabha; senior party leaders back Gidderbaha MLA

Tuesday, 22/07/2014

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140722/punjab.htm#1

Chandigarh : The treasury benches today strategically took the fizz out of the Opposition charge on the government over the illicit drug smuggling under political patronage.

By appearing as much “victim” as Congress MLA from Gidderbaha Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, whose name has been dragged into a drug racket in Mansa, the government, led by Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, said a solution should be found on how to ensure that an accused in a drug smuggling case did not blatantly name any politician.

For a change, there was unanimity in the House that mudslinging should be avoided when any politician’s name was taken casually by any accused.

But later, while talking to mediapersons, Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar and Congress MLAs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Lal Singh and four other MLAs, stood by Warring and said that an independent inquiry be conducted in the case. They dubbed it as an alleged conspiracy by the government to silence the Opposition.

“Since he was vocal against the government policies and the involvement of politicians in illicit drug trade, he has been targeted. Mansa SSP BS Khattra is known to be close to the Badals and he could not have named Warring without the tacit knowledge of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal,” they claimed.

The Congress, which had planned to take on the government on the drug issue in the Assembly session, had even staged a walkout on the government’s unpreparedness to answer the Opposition on the drug issue. It had even demanded a “white paper” on how the Governor was dealing with the problem. But today, the party was left disarmed as both Sukhbir and Majithia assured the House that there was no vindictiveness in Warring’s name cropping up in the police investigations. Badal assured the Opposition that he had already asked the Punjab Director General of Police to give him a report on the issue.

Majithia, on the other hand, said he hoped that at least now the Opposition would realise his pain, when his name was being dragged in the drug controversy. “I am the biggest sufferer of this (when any accused names a politician and steers public perception against politicians). And even after being exonerated by a double bench of the High Court, you (Opposition) have been naming me as an accused. None of the five Central Government agencies have found any evidence to support these allegations,” he said.

The House saw emotions running high as both Warring (accused by the Mansa police of having received money from a drug smuggler for his election campaign) and Majithia (who has been named by alleged druglord Jagdish Bhola) presented their side.

Warring almost in tears

Almost breaking down in the House, a teary-eyed Warring said, “This is a trying time in my life. I am not here to give any clarification or to blame someone for this. I wanted to do clean politics... I want that a CBI inquiry should be ordered to find the truth. If I am found guilty, I will not only resign from the House... main is jiwan ton mukti ley lunga (life will come to an end for me).”

Majithia too clears his stand

As senior Congress leaders sympathised with him, Majithia too got up and said his mother was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of his name being dragged in a drug case. “Is this the law of the land? A mockery of the law is made when any accused takes the name of a politician. I have suffered for six months and who knows the pain better than me,” he said.

The Congress demanded strict disciplinary action against Khattra for naming Warring on the basis of his name being found in the phone book of an accused’s phone.