Badal to CM: Prove charges, else apologise

[me moorakh mugadh]

CHANDIGARH: Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has challenged the Amarinder government to file a suo moto challan against him in the Rs 250-crore drainage scam on the basis of whatever facts gathered by the special investigation team and prove corruption charges against him.

Talking to mediapersons a day after the SIT questioned him on the scam at his residence, Badal said if charges were proved against him in the case he would accept all other allegations as well and was prepared to face the music for that.

‘‘In case the SIT fails to establish charges against me, chief minister Amarinder Singh must tender a public apology,’’ said Badal.

The former chief minister said the drainage scam should be a test case of corruption charges against him.

He said the raid by the vigilance bureau sleuths in Balasar in Sirsa district and his interrogation by the SIT was targeted at maligning his image and dramatising events to indulge in character assassination.

He said the drainage project had been undertaken to surmount the problem of waterlogging in over more than two lakh acres of land. The project was financed by NABARD and involved construction of 412-km long drainage canal and 280 tubewells.

He said NABARD had complimented the state government for the successful completion of the project in a record period of one-and a half years. Badal, however, denied his involvement in any corruption that might have occurred in the implementation of the project.

He recalled that then irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon had smelt a rat in the project and had recommended action against four

senior irrigation department officials. Badal said when the matter was referred to him by the then chief secretary, R S Mann, he (Badal) had suggested the action against the officials as per rules.

In an attempt to put the ball in the chief minister’s court, Badal said it was during the Amarinder government’s tenure that senior IAS officer Rajesh Chhabra, who was principal secretary, irrigation, stalled action against the erring officials.

Regarding interrogation by the SIT team, Badal clarified that the team was with him just for about ten minutes during which they showed him certain files pertaining to the project. ‘‘They asked me no questions and left without much hassles,’’ he added.

Commenting on the arrest of his nephew Narottam Singh Dhillon, Badal wondered how could he be booked for his alleged links with the ISI and militants by the Muktsar police.

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