Chandigarh, October 23: The coordination committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday decided to launch a campaign for justice to the victims of the Amritsar train tragedy.
Addressing a joint press conference with BJP state president Shwait Malik, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the Congress government has launched a “cover-up” exercise to save local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur who were responsible for the death of 61 people during the Dussehra celebrations in Amritsar on Friday.
The coordination committee demanded immediate sacking of Sidhu and registration of a case against his wife and organisers of the function.
Sukhbir and Malik said both the parties were with the train tragedy victims and their kin in this hour of grief whereas chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh was off to Israel.
Condemning the registration of attempt to murder cases against 50 protesters who clashed with the police on Sunday, Sukhbir said it was in contrast to an inconsequential case registered under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) against four unidentified persons who happen to be the organisers of the function.
“It was condemnable that the perpetrators of the tragedy were indulging in a candle light march and that this action was akin to rubbing salt on the victims’ wounds,” said Sukhbir.
“This proves that justice can never be given under the Congress government. We demand a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court,” added Sukhbir.
The SAD president said that the Union minister of state for railways and the Punjab governor reached the accident site within hours, but it took Amarinder 18 hours to reach Amritsar.
Both Sukhbir and Malik condemned rebel AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira for underplaying the train tragedy. “Khaira has made an insensitive statement to save his friend Navjot Singh Sidhu,” said Sukhbir, referring to a video clip.
Khaira later said his comments were misinterpreted and twisted by selecting a portion of his live video.
The SAD-BJP delegation would meet Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore on Tuesday and would demand a compensation of Rs1 crore each for the kin of those killed in the train accident, Rs50 lakh for the injured, besides a government job for the victims’ kin.
Source Hindustan Times
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