AAP, Congress have unholy alliance: Akali Dal

Chandigarh, April 12 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Parambans Romana on Friday asked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to explain the underhand deal he had arrived at with Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira by agreeing not to prosecute him, even as he asserted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress and the BJP were making unholy alliances to put up joint candidates against the Akali Dal.  

Romana said it was shocking the state government had given an undertaking in the Supreme Court that it would not proceed with the trial against Khaira in the 2015 drugs case, even though the government had formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to reinvestigate the case and announced that incriminating evidence had been found against Khaira.

Asking the Chief Minister as to why he was defending an alleged "drug trafficker" in the Supreme Court, Romana in a statement said "this is being done despite the fact that the chargesheet filed against Khaira in the drug case states that he had made 78 calls to drug trafficker Gurdev Singh and had also spent Rs 6.50 crore above his known sources of income".

Asserting that all this was due to the INDIA bloc of which AAP was a part, the Akali Dal leader said: "Bhagwant Mann is on record to have praised Sonia Gandhi even more than the Congress leaders with whom he shared the stage in Delhi recently."

He said it was a fact that AAP was in alliance with the Congress party in Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

"An official alliance could not be effected in Punjab but now the AAP government in Punjab has decided to help Sukhpal Khaira, who is desirous of contesting from Sangrur by stopping the trial in the drugs case in which he is accused."

He said in return, the AAP would receive help from the Congress on specific seats.

Asking the Chief Minister to explain his flip-flop on this issue, Romana said: "Mann has said on record in the Vidhan Sabha that despite being named in a drugs case in 2015, Khaira had used his influence in the previous Congress government to evade justice and asserted that now he would have to face the law."

Romana said AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal had also while referring to Khaira announced that all drug traffickers would be sent to jail.

He also asked the Chief Minister to explain his stand on corruption.