The Shiromani Akali Dal today dismissed as “frivolous and an Amarinder-inspired gimmick” a complaint lodged by “a corruption tainted officer V K Janjua” against the party president and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. ““ The allegation is part of a deal between two desperadoes – a tainted officer facing certain conviction and the PPCC president facing certain defeat. The plot carries the signatures of the patented style of Amarinder gimmicks and is a desperate last-minute attempt to somehow escape humiliating defeat in the forthcoming poll in Punjab. But the irony of it all is that instead of steadying the Congress boat, this gimmick will only further hasten its sinking as it proves that the Congress had become the last refuge all corrupt elements in the country, “ said a party release in Chandigarh this evening.
It may be recalled that Mr. Janjua was caught red handed accepting a bribe of Rs. 2 lac in his office on 9.11.2009. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) was registered against him. Later on 23.11.2011, he filed an application under Section 153 (3) CrPC in the Court of SDJM Mohali alleging that seeking action against certain officers of VB Punjab. In that application, the name of Deputy CM S. Sukhbir Singh Badal reflects nowhere. The SAD said that it was amazing that the tainted officer had come up with his frivolous allegation after gap of 2 years.
The statement referred to the “ pathetic sight” of a former Chief Minister clutching at the coat-tails of a corruption- tainted officer as the last straw to save his sinking fortunes, and said, “ The PPCC president has obviously lured the officer into a bail-out promise in the most impossible event of the Congress forming a government in the state,” said a party press release from SAD’s Chandigarh office.
The SAD statement further said that all the corrupt people were now gathering under the banner of the Congress party as they looked at it as their saviour. “The number and magnitude of corruption scams committed by Congress leaders or their allies during the Congress regime has made the party a rallying point for all the corrupt elements in the country. Mr. Janjua has also jumped on to the deck not realizing that the ship was already sinking under the weight of too many corrupt passengers on it.
The press release further said that both the frivolous nature of Janjua’s complaint and its timing left no one in doubt as to who was behind it . “But the complaint lodged by Mr. Janjua, who was caught red-handed accepting bribe in his office, clearly showed the level of frustration to which the Congress party had sunken in the face of an imminent rout in the forthcoming elections. Mr. Janjua was nabbed in the act nearly two years ago and for these two years, he had been plotting with the opponents of the government. “What kept him quiet for so long? . The officer clearly believes his best hope of getting away with his corruption case lay in a change of guard in the state . That by itself is a commentary on the image of the scam tainted Congress party facing an unprecedented rout.”