The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday demanded Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the Home portfolio, to accept responsibility for the collapse of the law and order situation in Punjab and resign from his post immediately.

Addressing a Press conference, senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia said, “Never in the history of the State has law and order descended to this level as under this Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. It seems the law of jungle is prevailing in Punjab with targeted killings and extortions becoming the norm and gangsters being allowed a free reign. Since the CM is directly responsible for this state of affairs he should own responsibility and step down”.

He said there were extremely dangerous implications to the ongoing breakdown in the law and order situation. “A sharp increase in smuggling of weapons into the state has compromised national security. Daily killings and the new culture of extortions whereby no businessman is safe, is resulting in fleeing of capital from Punjab to other states. No investment is coming in and with home investors also choosing to move out we are staring at an economic collapse as well as a burgeoning unemployment crisis,” the SAD leader said.

Majithia said the CM should introspect to understand why things have taken such a turn and stop indulging in dance shows in Gujarat and instead concentrate on setting things right in Punjab.

“Only peace and communal harmony can bring development and progress and since both are missing in Punjab today there is a real threat of the State slipping back to the erstwhile era of darkness,” he said. The SAD leader said the CM was oblivious to the situation. “It was shocking that Mann praised Chandigarh Police at a function today and asserted that it was corruption free which itself was an indictment of the Punjab Police and its functioning,” he added.

Meanwhile Mr Majithia while welcoming the Supreme Court order freeing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s killers said “there cannot be double standards and all Sikh detainees who were languishing in jail even after completion of their jail sentences, should be released”.