Punjab Public Relations minister Bikram Singh Majithia today said Pradesh Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa, who was consistently being snubbed by his party leaders, had now been delivered a slap in the face by the leading industrial houses of Punjab who had outrightly refuted his wild allegations that large industrial houses were shifting out of the State.
In a statement here, Bikram Majithia said the PCC chief, who had developed a habit of lying to the people, had finally met his comeuppance at the hands of the leading industrial houses of Punjab. “The statements by the leading industrial houses prove that the PCC chief had been lying all along while claiming that industrial houses were moving out of the State”.
Majithia said Bajwa had not only tried to tarnish the image of the State whom he represented in parliament and public life but had also damaged the reputation of industrial houses including Hero Cycles, Khanna Paper Mills and Nestle vis a vis their competitors and stake holders.The Public Relations minister said the current behavior of the PCC president was on expected lines. “After failing to lead his party politically with the Congress being rejected in successive elections besides being struck successive blows by deserting Congress men the PCC chief seems to have lost his mental equilibrium”. He said this alone could explain why the PCC chief had committed political ‘hara-kari’ by striking at the reputation of respected industrial houses in Punjab.
In another development, Majithia said Hero Cycles Managing Director Pankaj Munjal had personally rung up Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and informed him that there was not an iota of truth in the allegations leveled by the PCC president. The minister said Hero Cycles had assured the government that not only was it committed to the State but that it was coming up with a new plant to manufacture premium cycles at Ludhiana. “Would any company moving out of the State as claimed by Mr Bajwa simultaneously start work on a new plant?” he asked.Majithia said similarly Khanna Paper Mills had also nailed the PCC president’s lie by stating that it was not shifting to Gujarat as claimed by Bajwa.“The company has even publically admitted that it has been mentored by the Deputy Chief Minister and that Mr Sukhbir Badal was responsible for the expansion of its manufacturing facilities in 2008”, he added.
Speaking about another company Nestle which the PCC president also claimed was shifting out of the State, Majithia said the chairman of the company had met chief minister Parkash Singh Badal few months back and disclosed that Nestle would invest Rs 250 crore on expansion and modernization of its existing milk plant at Moga.Meanwhile the akali leader said all was not lost for Bajwa. “You must immediately apologize to the industrial houses whose reputation you have harmed as well as the people of the State who are already fed up with your lies and unbecoming behavior and are ready to teach you a lesson you will never forget in the forthcoming parliamentary elections”, Majithia added.