Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal has demanded immediate dismissal of Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia in the wake of the fresh disclosures made by Manjinder Singh Bittu Aulakh and Jagjit Singh Chahal in the drug smuggling racket which were part of the chargesheet filed in this case by the Enforcement Directorate earlier in the Patiala court.
“Earlier, alleged drug smuggler Jagdish Bhola had only mentioned Majithia’s name while talking to journalists in Mohali court. However, now Chahal has given in writing that he handed over Rs. 35 lakh personally to Majithia at his Amritsar residence in instalments over a specified period. Aulakh has confessed in writing that it Majithia who had introduced Satta, one of the three NRIs now wanted by the police in the drug racket, to him. He has also specified the period when these NRIs stayed at Majithia’s residence”, he added.
He said separately, Chahal had admitted that it was Majithia who had told him to supply basic drug to the three NRIs as he had three pharmaceutical companies in Himachal Pradesh and he had been associated with him for a long time.
He said the issue was not the naming of Majithia as accused in the chargesheet but that his name was there in the confessions of the two accused in itself was enough and as such, he had no moral right to be in the cabinet. Moreover, ED had given out that more and more names would be added to the chargesheet as the investigation progressed.
He called upon Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to dismiss Majithia forthwith in the interest of maintaining probity in public life. In case Majithia emerged clean, he could be re-inducted.
He also urged the Bharatiya Janata Party, the alliance partner of the Akali Dal, to make its stand clear on Majithia in the context of the fresh evidence that had surfaced now as earlier, the party had demanded his resignation but later backtracked. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been stressing the need for transparency in public life and as such, here was a test case for the BJP.
