Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has lost mental balance: Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa

CHANDIGARH: Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday said that Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has lost his mental balance because he was questioned on 121 deaths in hooch tragedy by his own party leaders.
"Captain saheb lost his mental balance after we (Bajwa and Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dullo) raised questions on 121 deaths in hooch tragedy as he is thinking that his own party MP is questioning him," Bajwa said.
"Two years ago a railway accident occurred in Amritsar in which 60 people died. You formed an SIT but nothing happened. Then a blast took place in a cracker factory in Batala, SIT was formed but nothing happened. So in Hooch tragedy we ask the SIT you are forming: Can commissioner Jalandhar investigate because excise dept is with Captain Amarinder? The pplice is headed by Amarinder Singh as a home minister," Bajwa said.
Bajwa added, "I just approached governor to dig out the losses incurred by the excise department. And about illicit distilleries, so if he (Amarinder Singh) thinks it is a cold-blooded murder, then we gave a memorandum to governor that this hooch tragedy should be investigated by ED or CBI. On this, he (Amarinder Singh) lost mental balance and now it has reached such a stage that police security for me was withdrawn."
"I want to ask Capt Amarinder Singh if he believes in democracy. You're democratically elected CM and not maharaja of Patiala," Bajwa said on Punjab CM's remark on his (Bajwa's) letter to Chandigarh DGP saying, 'CM and Punjab DGP are responsible for any harm caused to his (Bajwa's) safety'.
"I am an MP, a constitutional post of the same party. My father was martyred while fighting against fundamentalists in 1987. In 1990 there was a major bomb blast targeting me in which all the cars were blown away. My elder brother is a war hero of Kargil. From 1980 till now I had Punjab police cover and the security is given to someone based on threat perception and not based on political affiliations. Whoever has a threat, the state's job is to protect that person," he added.
Taking strong exception to Congress MP Pratap Singh Bajwa's attack on the integrity and fairness of Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday asked Bajwa to write to him, or to the party high command in Delhi if he had any grudge or complaint against the state government.
Tearing through Bajwa's letter to DGP Gupta, the chief minister said it reflected the Rajya Sabha MP's total "frustration and desperation" and exposed his own "shameless lies" in the matter.
"By his own admission, Bajwa had been highlighting what he alleges to be the politico-police-drug nexus, production and distribution of illicit liquor, under state patronage and rampant illegal mining in Punjab," Captain Amarinder pointed out, adding that if the state government had to take any vindictive action it would not have waited for the centre to provide him security.
"Have we not tolerated his criticism of the state government all this time?" the chief minister quipped, adding that even the opposition parties in the state could not accuse his government of being spiteful. Making it clear that withdrawal of the state security to the Congress MP was his decision, as home minister, based on the intelligence inputs from the Punjab police, the chief minister said Bajwa's personal attack on the DGP was not only misplaced but also against the culture and ethos of the Congress party, of which he is a senior member.
"If he (Bajwa) does not have confidence in me or my government, why has he not approached the party high command all this time with his grouses? Does he have no faith even in them?" asked the chief minister.