Amarinder flays SAD, AAP for raising 1984 riots for pol gains

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today accused the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of trying to gain "cheap" political mileage by raking up 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Addressing a press conference, he said he owed no explanation to anyone much less Akalis, who had never raised the issue even once despite being in power, till it was election time in the state.
"AAP had also chosen election time to raise the issue, with the clear intent of making political gains," he said, dismissing the charges of protecting the guilty of riots.
Singh said he had resigned as an MP in 1984 in protest against "Operation Bluestar" and personally visited several gurudwaras and other places to meet the riot victims for four days.

To a question about the alleged role of Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the anti-Sikh riots, the PCC president said the matter was sub-judice and it was for the court to establish whether he was guilty or not.
He said that when he met the victims immediately after the riots, nobody named Tytler and his name cropped up only six months later during the Delhi elections.

Singh demanded from SAD an explanation on why the NDA government, of which it is a constituent partner, had failed to do anything in the matter despite being in power.
To a question on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, he said he would resign from Lok Sabha and all party MLAs will quit the state Assembly if the pending Supreme Court judgement went against the interests of Punjab.

Accusing Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of allegedly putting the state on the back foot due to his inability to have the case properly defended in court, he said Parkash Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had been indulging in double standards over the issue.
Accusing Badal of "shedding crocodile tears" when the case was at its culmination stage in the apex court, after having earlier brought the state to its knees by selling off its interests to Haryana, Singh said "There was enough documentary evidence to show Badal's complicity against the interest of Punjab".
Replying to a question about his opposition to Punjabi Suba movement, the PCC chief said he had opposed it right from the day one.

He alleged that the Akalis had a single point agenda of making Punjab a "Sikh majority" state and in the process, had compromised on precious resources like land, water and hydro- electric power.