Chandigarh, November 5: Reacting to the demand for his resignation from the post of leader of the opposition, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said on Friday that it was reflective of a “friendly match” between the Congress and the SAD-BJP.
The AAP leader has been summoned by a local court in Fazilka in a heroin smuggling case under Section 319 of the CrPC following an application from the prosecution. He has been told to appear on November 30.
Khaira alleged that surprisingly, the said traditional parties had never attacked each other on blatant corruption and neck-deep involvement of their leaders in drugs. He said the Akali Dal and BJP never uttered a single word against the involvement of tainted corrupt minister Rana Gurjeet Singh in the alleged mining scandal.
As per sources, 6 AAP MLAs said that Leader of the Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira should quit on moral grounds. The party, however, claimed in a statement that the entire rank and file, including the 20 MLAs, was with Khaira.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Sarvjit Kaur Manuke and Talwandi Sabo legislator Baljinder Kaur are among those who have asked him to put him in his papers — in keeping with the party’s political ethos.
Four others, including deputy state convener Aman Arora, have raised the demand on party fora. However, the other MLAs want all party leaders and workers to back Khaira, claiming that he is being targeted because he has been confronting the Congress and the Akalis on several issues.
Dakha MLA and advocate HS Phoolka showed solidarity with Khaira, but advised that the proposed press statement, which seemed to question the role of the court concerned, should be edited.
Baljinder Kaur, who was earlier a contender for the post of Leader of the Opposition, said the party couldn’t have double standards. “He must resign and take the moral high ground. If his name is cleared, his position in the party should be restored. This is the party ethos and we all abide by it.”
Manuke said she as well as the party had zero tolerance to drug smuggling. “I will not support even a family member over such charges, but will fight for justice if he or she is innocent. We have sympathy with him, but his continuation in office is against the party ideology,” she said. Later in the evening, she amended her statement, saying that the party leadership should decide on the resignation.
One of the six MLAs disassociated himself from the statement expressing solidarity with Khaira. Wishing not to be quoted, he said the matter was sub judice and giving a political colour to the controversy amounted to being disrespectful to the law.
Meanwhile, the state unit of BJP on Saturday demanded that the state government seize the passport of Sukhpal Khaira. In a letter to Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, state BJP vice-president Harjit Singh Grewal and state secretary Vineet Joshi also demanded that the warrants be executed at the earliest and a lookout notice issued so that he didn’t “flee” the country.
