Cong, AAP gun for CM, Tota Singh; seek CBI probe
Wednesday, 07/10/2015
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/
Chandigarh : The Opposition parties today demanded resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and arrest of Agriculture Minister Tota Singh for their alleged “involvement” in the spurious pesticide scam that has ruined the state.
The Congress sought a CBI probe in the scam alleging that the Chief Minister’s office was also involved.
PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa said the arrested Agriculture Director, Mangal Singh Sandhu, had just been made a “scapegoat” to save higher-ups and hence the scandal must be exposed.
Bajwa said the arrest of Sandhu was not enough as both Badal and Tota Singh were equal culprits.
“Rs 33 crore purchase of sub-standard pesticides is just one aspect as the scandal was of huge dimension leading to Rs 5,000 crore farmers’ loss in the state,” said Bajwa.
Trying to put Badal in the dock, the PPCC chief asked Badal as to why Tota Singh was re-inducted into the Cabinet after his resignation in the wake of his conviction by a court on the charge of committing irregularities.
Former CM Rajinder Kaur Bhattal alleged Sandhu was arrested to save the skin of the government. She alleged his arrest had been made to cover up the failure of the Badal government with regard to supply of spurious pesticides to farmers of the state. She alleged that the Badal government was "simply evading" the issue by taking an escape route. The arrest of the official would not compensate the farmers for massive loss to the cotton crop from the whitefly attack.
AAP state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur too slammed the SAD-BJP government over the pesticide scam. "It is unbelievable that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal came to know about the details of the pesticide scam only after a senior official of the department made his inquiry report public," the AAP leader said. Chhotepur said Agriculture Minister Tota Singh should own moral responsibility of what happened in his department and resign immediately.
"For a minister who claims to be a know-all about farming and farmers' problems, it seems improbable that he knew nothing about the pesticide purchase scam," he added.
