Punjab CM flays Akalis for political stunts

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here on Saturday criticised the Akalis for political stunts over the power rate hike and murder of two Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) sarpanches.

The SAD has threatened agitation over the issues, which the Chief Minister dubbed as theatrics aimed at covering up the trail of misdeeds and mis-governance of 10 years. "You can't hide your miserable track record with these pathetic dramas," he told the Akalis.

Lashing out at the Akali leadership over the threat of stir if the killers of sarpanches -- Gurdeeep Singh and Dalbir Singh Dhilwan -- were not arrested within two weeks, Amarinder Singh said the police, in his regime, were doing much better job at solving crimes than it ever had.

These kind of ultimatum could have worked under the Akali government, when many innocent people were thrown behind bars in false cases, he said and added, under his government no innocent would be victimised for crimes they didn't commit.

"The police are doing a professional job and investigations in both cases are on track," he said. These cases would also be solved like others, he added.

The Chief Minister said, in the SAD regime not a single case of the serial targeted killings, which began in January 2016 and included murder of Brig Gagneja, had been solved.

Many hardcore 'A' category gangsters, such as Vicky Gounder and Prema Lahoria, had a free run under the SAD rule, he added.IANS