SAD says AAP has become face of drugs in Punjab

Chandigarh, November 1 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said the face of AAP had become the face of drugs in Punjab with a judicial court making its State legislature party leader Sukhpal Khaira an accused in a huge drug recovery case with Pakistani connections, even as it asked AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal if he would walk the talk and expel Khaira from the primary membership of the party.

Addressing a press conference here along with senior leaders, former minister and SAD spokesman Maheshinder Singh Grewal said Kejriwal should also apologise to Punjabis for appointing Sukhpal Khaira as leader of the opposition despite his involvement in a drug case being in public domain. “Kejriwal should also make it clear as to where he stood on the issue of drugs now as he had made this the biggest issue in the last assembly elections”.

Stating that Sukhpal Khaira had earned the infamy of being the first and only leader of the opposition to be asked to appear as accused in a trans-border heroin smuggling racket by a judicial court, Grewal said Khaira’s involvement was evident from the 77 calls exchanged between him and drug trafficker Gurdev Singh, whom he had nominated as Market Committee chief of Dhilwan. Gurdev has been handed out maximum sentence of twenty years in this case.

The SAD leaders, including Dr Daljit Singh Cheema and Bibi Jagir Kaur, also asked chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to order immediate arrest of Sukhpal Khaira with fresh evidence of his being in collusion with the main accused becoming part of court record. Besides demanding a thorough probe into the matter to uncover Khaira’s role in drug, arms and currency smuggling from Pakistan, the Akali leaders demanded that sedition charges also be added to the case.

The SAD also castigated Khaira for trying to cast aspersions on the honourable courts, saying this was reprehensible and unwarranted. “You cannot try to deflect attention from a case in which you have been an accused by a judicial process following careful examination of evidence by howling foul. This displays your utter frustration after being caught out”.