The SAD today demanded the immediate dismissal of the Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh SIdhu from the Punjab Council of Ministers following the state government’s endorsement of his conviction in a murder case. Accusing the Congress government of playing a fixed match with Sidhu, the SAD demanded that the govt must stop shielding the murder convict sitting amidst them in cabinet meetings.“ The continued presence of Sidhu in the Punjab cabinet is not only utterly untenable on moral grounds but is also a grave legal and constitutional absurdity, mocking the constitution of India. He cannot remain a member of a government which is seeking a judicial endorsement to punish him for murdering an old, innocent and helpless person . This has created the strangest situation in the history of independent India,” said the Akali leaders , Bikram Singh Majithia, Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema and Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here this evening, the Akali leaders said ,” it is an absurd situation that a minister is a party to the decision of his own government to punish him for murdering an innocent.” They accused the Punjab government of trying to defraud the people of Punjab by enacting the drama of a fixded match with Sidhu in order to guarantee him an escape route from the grave murder charge against him,. Addressing media persons, tawhe SAD Gen Sec Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal said that there was no justification for Sidhu continuing in office as his presence in the council of ministers violates the principle of collective responsibility. If he agrees with the government that endorses his conviction , then he has to accept that and resign But if he disagrees with government on this, then also he has no right to remain in the govt on grounds of collective responsibility.
KILLING BLACK BUCK MORE SERIOUS THAN KILLING AN INNOCENT HUMAN ? Asks Majithia , also confronting Rahul Gandhi
Senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia asked the AICC president Rahul Gandhi to come clean on jhis stand on murder convicts becoming and remaining ministers in Congress governments at the centre and states. Mr Majithia said that who was on fast claiming to seek for the poor and th disadvanataged should stop playing the game of double standards. "What is your stand on the demands for justice by a family that has lost its bread winner at the hands of a minister in your party's govt in Punjab? Are murder convicts to enjoy cabinet berths as they have been doing in your party's government in which killers of innocnent Sikhs enjouyed top cabinet positions?"Mr Majithia also wondered ," Is killing an innocent human being less grave an offence than killing even a black buck ? how come that Sidhu got away with just three years for killing an innocent human being while in the same country , Salman Khan was handed a five year sentence for killing a black."
COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY
In reply to another question, Akali leader Dr D S cheema said that it was strange that the govt was sending one report to the Supreme Court endorsing murder conviction against Sidhu but refuses to follow it up by sending an appropriately matching communication to the Governor. Cheema said that after the Pb govts stand before the SC , it was obligatory on the part of the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder to send a parallel letter to the state Governor recommending dismissal of Mr Sidhu. The Akali leaders also accused the Aam Admi Party leader Sukhpal Singh Khehra of being a part of a conspiracy to shield Navjot Singh Sidhu. “It is strange that in stead of standing by the innocent victim’s helpless family, Mr Khehra is supporting the minister in this government under a well-planned conspiratorial script.” “ There are clear and tell-tale signs of the government playing a double game on the case. There are serious practical, legal and moral questions which demand immediate and clear answers from the government. Why is the prosecution not pressing for the murder charge against Sidhu as maintained by the victim ‘s family and as the case had originally stood? Why is the government not supporting the victim’s family’s demand for life imprisonment for Sidhu. Why did the state/government not demand enhancement of the quantum of punishment under the murder charge? On the one hand, the government admits that Sidhu committed a murder while on the other they are seeking a sentence of mere three years. Has anyone ever heard of a three year imprisonment for murdering an innocent old man ? ,” asked the Akali leaders .
The SAD leaders also said that the government’s non-seriousness in ensuring justice to the victim’s family is clear from the fact that it did not entrust the case to a senior lawyer. The Government spends lakh of rupees to engage top lawyers in cases of much less serious nature. Had the government been serious in the murder conviction against SIdhu , the minimum it could have done was to ask the Advocte General to handle the case in view of its gravity and its grave implications”The Akali leaders said there was clearly was a secret deal of the Congress leaders with Navjot Singh Sidhu before the elections. “The cat has been let out of the bag by Navjot Singh Sidhu himself when he said that the Congress has betrayed him and has stabbed him in the back. What is this betrayal about? “ The Akalis demanded that Sidhu should make the secret deal between him and the Congress public. With whom was this deal struck –Ms Sonia Gandhi, Mr Rahul Gandhi or whom?”Mr Khehra and ,the Aam Admi party wer acting as a “B “ team of the Congress. Even in the Vidhan Sabha, Mr Khehra acted as more loyal than the King and came to the help of the Congress government whenever we cornered it on issues of public interest. Similarly, in this case also, he is happy to be seen with Sidhu rather than the poor family that has lost an innocent member at his hands.The SAD leaders demanded that the Aam Admi Party must come clean on whether it stands by the poor, helpless victim or with the murder convict who is a minister in the Congress government.