Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh on Saturday asked Punjab's ruling family of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to choose between their business interests and politics.Accusing the Badal family of promoting business interests while in power, Amarinder Singh said that the two recent incidents of the death of a teenaged girl in Moga district and a 40-year-old man in Ropar district, both of which were linked to buses owned by companies of the Badal family, were a clear indicator of misuse of authority by the ruling family.The teenaged girl was molested and allegedly pushed out of a speeding bus owned by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's Orbit Aviation Transport company on April 29 this year.The incident, which was being covered up by Punjab police, led to a furore in the state which various parties, leaders and organisations gunning for the Badal family.
Another man, Swaran Singh, was killed this week when his scooter was hit by a vehicle.While eyewitnesses alleged that the victim was hit by a speeding Mercedes luxury bus of Dabwali Transport owned by Sukhbir Badal, police booked a car driver for the accident. The car was also damaged in the accident but its driver claimed that he was being wrongly framed in the incident.Family members and villagers had blocked the Chandigarh-Ropar highway for nearly two days till Friday evening demanding action in the matter."The time has come for Parkash Singh Badal and his family to make a choice between business or politics before the mounting public wrath gets out of control and assumes dangerous proportions as was seen at Moga and now in Ropar," Amarinder said in a statement on Saturday.
The anger against Badals is mounting in such an alarming proposition that time is not very far when they will have to hide and run for their lives," he added"The Badals were once again trying to buy peace with the Ropar accident victim's family and wriggle out of the situation," Amarinder alleged.Punjab Congress president Pratap Singh Bajwa said that the special investigation team (SIT) constituted by Punjab police to probe the Ropar accident was a farce.He said that Punjab police chief had given a clean chit to the bus owned by the Badal family even before the probe had started."The SIT and Punjab police have been reduced to a private militia of the Badal family which functions to protect and facilitate their business empire. Hence to expect a fair and an independent investigation by the SIT, into an incident involving the transport company of the deputy chief minister-cum-home minister of Punjab is merely illusory," Bajwa said.