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No 'vendetta' but Badal government has people on the run
Apr 9, 2007 - 10:41:35 AM
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'Most of these things are being done to hound us at the behest of Sukhbir Badal,' an official told IANS on conditions of anonymity.
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By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
[RxPG] Chandigarh, April 9 - The 'consensus and conciliatory tone across the social and political spectrum in Punjab' set out by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal after his swearing-in March 2 has taken a backseat just a month later with political opponents to officials taking to their heels.
Starting with his bete noire and previous chief minister Amarinder Singh - who arrives in India from Britain Monday morning after a post-assembly defeat medical check-up there - scores of politicians, officials and others are at the receiving end of the new Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party - dispensation in the state.
All this, even after Badal and his MP son Sukhbir Badal, now the working president of the ruling Akali Dal, have publicly stated there will be no political vendetta.
Amarinder Singh will be touching Indian soil only after getting a stay on any possible arrest by the vigilance wing of the Punjab police till July 30 from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He has been named in a corruption scam regarding the construction of the Ludhiana City Centre.
Amarinder Singh had himself unleashed similar vigilance against the Badals in 2002, accusing them of amassing property worth Rs.35 billion. Both father and son were even arrested and sent to jail. Amarinder Singh now fears the reverse.
Former local bodies minister Jagjit Singh has remained 'unavailable' ever since he was named with Amarinder Singh and 16 others in the same City Centre scam. The police have declared him and Ludhiana improvement trust chairman P.S. Sibia as 'absconders'.
The former chief minister's chosen state police chief - S.S. Virk was placed under suspension by the Badal government after a police probe found him involved in a land deal worth millions in which a war widow was allegedly duped by property agents.
Virk has been accused of making transactions up to Rs.8.5 million in this deal without informing the government.
Premier agricultural institute Punjab Agricultural University - at Ludhiana saw its vice chancellor K.S. Aulakh resigning last week and Patiala's Punjabi University is also witnessing unruly scenes with incumbent vice chancellor S.S. Boparai allegedly facing state wrath.
The once-powerful media adviser to Amarinder Singh, B.I.S. Chahal, left the country within hours of the Badal government coming to power. He is said to fear arrest as an informal probe is on regarding his assets worth Rs.10 billion.
Two dozen bureaucrats and top police officials, who were directly involved with the probe against the Badals in the previous regime, are being kept on tenterhooks by the government. Six of them have already sought anticipatory bail.
'Most of these things are being done to hound us at the behest of Sukhbir Badal,' an official told IANS on conditions of anonymity.
For the record though, there is 'no political vendetta' in the state.
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