Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Thursday urged Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to mark an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court into the allegations of bribing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs by the BJP to join the saffron party.

Addressing a press conference here, SAD leader Majithia said that the inquiry should specify whether any Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader or any middleman offered Rs 25 crore each to AAP legislators to switch sides as has been claimed by Ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora.

“If this is so, action should be taken in the case. If the AAP allegations were found to be false, then action should be taken against the ministers as well as legislators for befooling the people and insulting their mandate,” said Majithia.

He said that Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit had done the right thing by withdrawing his assent for the special session of Assembly, which planned to “enact a political drama on the lines of the one which took place in Delhi earlier.”

Majithia said: “You should not stop at this. If need be, a probe by a Central agency should also be ordered into the allegations.”

Questioning the veracity of holding a special session to pass a confidence motion, he said: “If the AAP government wants to test the confidence of the people in its government, it should call for an election by dissolving the assembly. That will be the real test of its popularity.”

Majithia said that even though nine days have passed since the first information report (FIR) was registered into the bribery allegations made by the AAP, no action has been taken in the matter by the police.

“There has not been a single arrest in the case,” he said, adding the FIR had been registered against unknown persons even though the AAP made specific allegations against the BJP leaders and their middlemen. The SAD leader said that there could only be two reasons for such a state of affairs. “Either there is no substance in the FIR and that is why no action has been taken in the case or the state Police chief, to whom it has been submitted, has displayed incompetence in handling it. We demand that the DGP seize mobile phones of all AAP legislators who made these allegations and subject them to forensic examination,” he added.

Questioning the timing of the special Assembly session, he said: “The AAP government did not hold a special session to discuss the brutal killing of noted singed Sidhu Moosewala, armed clash at Kali Devi temple, the Agnipath scheme, SYL canal issue, weakening of Punjab’s position vis a vis Chandigarh, Rs 1,000 crore liquor scam, agricultural crisis or even the brutality inflicted on teachers.”

“This shows the government is playing politics and is impervious to the suffering of the farmers, government employees, unemployed youth, teachers and the poor and downtrodden section of society,” he added.