Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday questioned his own government and the previous Shiromani Akali Dal government on the inaction against those involved in drug peddling.

In a statement, Sidhu said the people of the state were eagerly awaiting the report of the Special Task Force (STF) on Bikramjit Majithia, ex-Akali minister and brother-in-law of former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Advertisement

The STF report on Majithia in the Rs 6,000 Crore Bhola drug racket is likely to be opened by a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 2 September.

The Punjab Congress chief said as the date is approaching, all eyes are on the High Court, and the people, especially those who have lost their innocent children to the drug menace, have high hopes that stern action would be taken against the accused.

Questioning the government’s inaction, Sidhu said that despite the High Court’s directions, both these governments (Captain Amarinder Singh government and the previous Parkash Singh Badal government) had done nothing to extradite the 13 drug smugglers, who peddled drugs in Punjab and smuggled them abroad, to India.

“These drug smugglers operated under the cover of government security using VIP vehicles,” he alleged. Sidhu said even a common man could sense why these drug smugglers had not been extradited for the past five years.

“Because had they been brought to book, they would have spilled the beans and exposed the unholy nexus of drug peddlers and politicians,” he added.

Sidhu alleged that the accused not only roamed in the VIP vehicles of Majithia under security cover but they also used to reside with him. He claimed that the money exchange with Amritsar-based businessman Jagjit Singh Chahal and statements by wrestler-turned-cop Bhola and Majithia’s former election agent Maninder Singh alias Bittu Aulakh are proof of Majithia’s involvement in the case.

With high power tariffs becoming a big issue in Punjab ahead of Assembly early 2022, state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had on Monday sought extension of the one-day Punjab Assembly session to five to seven days to enable bringing a legislation to terminate the ‘faulty’ power purchase agreements (PPAs) in order to bring down the domestic and industrial tariff in the state.