MOGA: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the Sangrur hooch tragedy was indicative of the state of affairs in Punjab as well as those in chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district of Sangrur, even as he demanded a judicial probe into the tragedy.
The SAD president was speaking to newsmen during the Moga and Dharamkot leg of his Punjab Bachao Yatra which received an enthusiastic response both in rural and urban areas with people vying with each other to meet and greet the SAD president. While farmers accompanied the Yatra in hundreds of tractors across both constituencies, shop keepers came out of their establishments in urban areas to shower flowers on the SAD president. The SAD president was accompanied by Sanjit Singh Gill in Moga and Barjinder Singh Brar in Dharamkot.
Speaking about the Sangrur hooch tragedy, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “this is what happens when governance takes a fall and you allow your legislators to collude with illegal liquor and drug traffickers. I have been stating repeatedly that AAP legislators are sheltering drug traffickers and even taking monthlies from them. The latest hooch tragedy reveals how deep the rot has set in”.
Rejecting the SDM level probe ordered into the tragedy, Mr Badal said “such a junior officer cannot identify the kingpins behind this illegal trade or indict politicians sheltering them. A judicial probe should be ordered into the entire incident. Also, as the chief minister has been stating publicly, a murder case should be registered against the perpetrators of this tragedy as well as politicians patronizing them”.
Asserting that the chief minister was unaffected by the misery being caused to the common man, Mr Badal said “Bhagwant Mann is busy serving his boss Arvind Kejriwal and is even looting the coffers of Punjab in election campaigns of AAP in other States of the country”. He also cited how earlier the chief minister had failed farmers not once but three times. “Farmers were denied compensation when their crops were destroyed by floods, hail storms and spurious pesticides. He said even now the chief minister was busy singing songs in his car even when people are dying in his home district after consuming spurious liquor.
Giving a clarion call to Punjabis to uproot AAP from the State, Mr Badal said “this is necessary to free Punjab from the looters of Delhi”. He said the SAD had a proven track record of speedy development coupled with maintenance of peace and communal harmony as well as extension of social welfare benefits to the poor and needy. “We are committed to taking everyone along onto the path of progress and have proved this by creating a world class road network, thermal plants and airports. We will continue on this path once we are re-elected to serve the people”.
Other leaders who accompanied the SAD president on this leg of the Punjab Bachao Yatra included district president Amajit Singh Landeke and Tirath Singh Mahla.