Hitting back at Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for alleging Congress role in mobilising people for 'Sarbat Khalsa', PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa today asked him "come out with proof" showing the party's involvement.
"The Deputy Chief Minister is not expected to level false and sweeping allegations but should instead come out with proof demonstrating Congress involvement," Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Bajwa said.
"Congress played a big role in mobilising people for 'Sarbat Khalsa' (congregation of Sikhs)," Sukhbir said in Amritsar earlier in the day.
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Sikh hardliners had convened 'Sarbat Khalsa' on the outskirts of Amritsar on November 10 and announced removal of top Sikh priests including the Akal Takht chief. The hardliners alleged that SGPC, which appoints Sikh head priests, was being controlled by the ruling Badal family.
Taking a dig at Sukhbir, Bajwa said the deputy chief minister had to bite the dust when he had announced at a news conference the police had cracked the case of sacrilege with the arrest of two brothers -- Rupinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh.
However, both the brothers were subsequently released for lack of evidence and "your (Sukhbir's) foreign hand theory was debunked", the Congress leader said.
"You are again playing the same trick to divert public attention from your mis-governance especially when it is you and your family that is responsible for the rapidly deteriorating state of affairs in Punjab," Bajwa said.
"You and your family have a stranglehold on almost every form of economic activity in Punjab and the ironical aspect is that their has been an exponential expansion of your business empire in the past nine years while the state has been slipping into a deeper debt crisis with every passing day," he said.
He said that the public anger was reflective when road blockades were prevalent in all parts of Punjab and prior to that the farmers had staged dharnas on the rail tracks for over a week.
"The people are seething with anger against the state government and you are now trying to blame the Congress to divert public attention and are attempting to cover up for your own acts of commission and omission," he said.
