As Captain Amarinder Singh expressed willingness to reveal the names of “corrupt” Congress ministers and MLAs involved in sand mining the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Thursday, said the former Punjab chief minister should share information he has to support his allegation of graft during the previous regime.
Welcoming former minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s suggestion to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to ask him (Amarinder) the names of “corrupt” ministers and MLAs, AAP’s Punjab chief spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang said none of the Congress leaders has presented any evidence of corruption against the other.
“If they (Congress leaders) have evidence of corruption against former government ministers, they should make it public,” he said while addressing a Press conference.
Kang said the AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took immediate action in the matter of his own minister’s corruption. “Mann fired his minister and imprisoned him right away. Why didn’t Captain and Randhawa act on the evidence they had against their ministers,” he asked.
Kang said Punjab Congress president and former transport minister Amarinder Singh Raja and warring former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, both had also said that there was rampant corruption in their departments, but the previous governments did nothing about it.
“This is a very serious matter and in the interest of Punjab, so instead of blaming each other, Captain and Randhawa should hand over the evidence of corruption to the Punjab Police. The administration will take swift and severe action against those who are corrupt,” he added.
Kang further said that Captain Amarinder Singh calls himself a patriot, but if he really is a pro-Punjab leader, then instead of doing politics of accusation and blame, he should cooperate with the Mann Government in their campaign to make Punjab a corruption-free state and share whatever information he has about graft.
“In the Mann Government, if evidence of corruption is found against anyone, whether the current minister-MLA or former minister, then they will not be spared,” he added.
The AAP spokesperson said Mann Government’s ‘Operation Corruption-free Punjab’ will continue and strict action will be taken against all the corrupt people.
Amarinder, on Wednesday, had said he was ready to reveal the names and give other details of all those involved in such activities. Welcoming the CM’s quick action against health minister Vijay Singla over corruption charges, Amarinder said the minister could defend himself in the court of law, but what Mann did following the complaint was the right thing to do to convey a strong message.
Responding to the ex-CM’s comment, Randhawa said, “Capt Amarinder Singh ji you are left with no choice but to welcome my demand for inquiry against all acts of corruption in your and previous regimes and appreciate CM Mann out of fear of fresh cases of persecution.”