SAD list fallout: Chander quits; Phillaur joins Cong

Saturday, 19/11/2016

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PARTING SHOT Calls Majithia ‘lord of all mafias in Punjab’; Capt defends his joining saying ‘his or son’s name not in any of the three challans filed by ED in drug cases’

JALANDHAR: In yet another setback for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) after it declared its first list of candidates, the party’s MLA from Phillaur, Avinash Chander, resigned from the party and the Vidhan Sabha on Friday to protest denial of ticket “from any reserved segment in Jalandhar”.

This came on the day that six-time MLA and former minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, who quit for the same reason on Thursday, joined the Congress. Names of both had cropped up in cases related to the multicrore drug racket busted in 2014 with the arrest of former Arjuna Awardee wrestler and cop Jagdish Bhola. CHANDIGARH: Two days after he was unceremoniously dropped by the Shiromani Ajkali Dal (SAD) as Kartarpur candidate in the first list released on Wednesday, former jails minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur joined the Congress in the presence of its state chief Capt Amarinder Singh here on Friday.

Phillaur, who resigned from the party and as a legislator on Thursday, hit out at the ruling Badals and revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia—brother-in-law of SAD president and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal— saying he “lorded” over all mafias in the state. “It is not the same SAD that was formed on strong principles. It has forgotten them. This government is run by dacoits and mafias. And it is Majithia who heads these mafias,” Phillaur said while addressing mediapersons in Chandigarh.

Playing the Dalit card, Phillaur said he was asked to resign as minister after his son, Damanvir Phillaur, and later he too was summoned by the enforcement directorate (ED) in the Bhola drug case, for being “weak and a Dalit”. He said all the accused who were questioned by the ED had named Majithia as the kingpin in the case. “We were not asked, else we would also have named Majithia,” he said in response to a question.

Phillaur was, however, elusive when asked if he was accusing Majithia of framing him and his son. “I had said on the floor of the House that I have been falsely implicated and the government should find out who is behind it,” he said.

Welcoming Phillaur into the party fold, Amarinder said neither Phillaur nor his son’s name figured in any of the three challans filed by the ED.

“Parkash Singh Badal’s hold on the party is fast disappearing and Sukhbir now calls the shots. Sukhbir has systematically finished his father’s erstwhile kitchen cabinet, of which Phillaur too was a part. Another loyalist Gurdev Badal is sick but no one from the ruling family has bothered to pay him a visit. Only Bhunder (Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder) is left. His days too are numbered,” Amarinder said.

BIR DEVINDER SLAMS CAPTAIN

Former Punjab Vidhan Sabha deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh has slammed Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh for exhibiting “indecent haste” in inducting SAD leader Sarwan Singh Phillaur into the party. “Phillaur has a pending enforcement directorate inquiry against him and his son in the infamous Bhola drug case,” Bir, expelled from the Congress, said in a statement. “He (Amarinder) has been blaming the SAD government for the drug menace… but now he stands exposed on his hypocritical stand. The tall claims that were being made by him have fallen flat.”