Irrigation and Power Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh today dismissed the charges leveled against him by the estranged Aam Aadmi Party leader Sukhpal Khaira. “Your better prove the charges or shut up”, Rana asked Khaira in no ambiguous terms.Rana denied each and every allegation Khaira leveled against him including the purchase of land and using that land as bank security. “Khaira has either been speaking out of sheer ignorance to malign my image or for his desperate political survival as he stands sidelined in his own party after failing to become legislative party leader or the state president of the AAP”, he remarked.Referring to the allegations of having purchased the ‘shamlat’ land, Rana said, the court of the ADC (Development) SAS Nagar, using the powers of collector had ordered on July 1, 2016 that the land in question does not fall under the definition of 2(g) and therefore its ownership does not vest in the gram panchayat. The court had accepted the petition of 180 residents of the village Seounk in tehsil Kharar of district SAS Nagar. The ADC declared all of them as owners of the parts of the said, land under their possession (Copy attached).
Following is the detailed answer to each and every query Khaira raised:
• Rana Gurjeet Singh has not taken any loan. The loan of Rs 109 crores has been taken by a company, Superior Foodgrains Private Ltd, three years ago. Rs 55 crores was term loan and Rs 40 crores as working capital. The loan was taken against the company itself. The land which was pledged was for additional security for the comfort of the bank. Like in case of a housing loan, the house in itself is the security for the bank, in case the Superior Foodgrains company is the security for the bank.
• Sukhpal Khaira says, the last payment was made by the bank on April 17, 2017. If he proves it, Rana Gurjeet will resign.
• Sukhpal Khaira says, Kulwinder Singh has purchased land for Rana Gurjeet Singh. Rana Gurjeet has not purchased any land. Only Rana Ranjit Singh and Ms Sukhjinder Kaur have purchased it.
• AND FOR HOLDING THE POWER OF ATTORNEY, YOU REALLY DON’T NEED TO BE AN EMPLOYEE OF A PERSON.
• Sukhpal Khaira has been repeatedly saying that Rana Gurjeet is a defaulter. Yes we owe Rs 52 crores to the farmers out of a total of Rs 2200 crores owed by the Sugar industry towards the farmers. GIVEN THE IGNORNACE KHAIRA HAS BETRAYED WE DO NOT EXPECT HIM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OWING MONEY TO SOMEONE AND BEING A DEFAULTER.
• It is a continuous relationship between the millers and the farmers. Moreover, the payment has been pending against Rs 72 crores that the UP government has to pay to the mill for the electricity sold to the UPPCL.
• Rs 30 crores loan which was taken by the mill was directly transferred to the sugar growers as per the conditions of the government of India. IN fact the loan was provided under a scheme for clearing the payments to the farmers.
• Earlier, Khaira alleged that one Amit Bahadur, has used ‘benami’ and ‘hawala money’ for purchasing the sand mines. Now he has himself been saying that the money taken as loan might have been used for purchasing the mines. Isn’t he contradicting himself in sheer frustration? He can’t be correct on both occasions.
• Khaira says, Rana Gurjeet will fly away like Vijay Mallaya. Let me tell him, I came to Punjab during the peak of militancy. When Sukhpal Khaira and his father Sukhjinder Singh Khaira were raising Khalistani flags and Khalistan Zindabad slogans. I am not going away anywhere.
• Sukhpal Khaira is a frustrated man. Having been sidelined by the Aam Aadmi Party, by not being made neither the state president nor the legislative party leader, he is trying to defame me for cheat publicity, the same way he tried to defame his own leader Bhagwant Mann by using his foreign touts to damn Mann as drunkard and drug addict.