In what has put Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann government in a spot of bother, the opposition parties have demanded the arrest of cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari after a purported audio clip of him allegedly planning to trap some contractors for extorting money has gone viral.
The opposition including Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have highlighted the audio tape in which the defence services welfare and food processing minister is allegedly heard discussing the plan with his officer on special duty (OSD) to extort money from the contractors.
Sarari has denied the allegations and claimed the audio tape is “fake”.
While putting out the clip on Twitter, senior Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira demanded action against the minister.
Its now a test of @BhagwantMann on d issue of corruption in high places as he arrested Dr Singla on charges that were never made public but in d case of Minister Sarari his audio on corruption is in public domain?If he retains Sarari it would mean action against Singla was bogus pic.twitter.com/wDJExG5vpD— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) September 11, 2022
People of Punjab are so dejected to see what rotten leaders they’ve elected in the name of “Badlav”slogan of @AamAadmiParty ! This Food Minister is conspiring to lay a trap and extract money! This sort of blatant corruption is unheard of! Lets see what action @BhagwantMann takes? pic.twitter.com/FF1e7VBzjY— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) September 11, 2022
State Congress chief Amarinder Raja Warring and Punjab’s leader of the opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa said that the AAP government has not even completed six months and a second minister has been caught indulging in corrupt practices. “At this rate, in the next two years we may see a dozen of their ministers landing in jail,” the leaders said.
Warring said earlier the government dismissed the health minister and jailed him over similar allegations. “This time the matter is already in the public domain with the minister’s audio clip and let us see what action the government takes,” he said.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia demanded a CBI inquiry into the case. “The OSD has stated on record that the audio tape is genuine and now it is up to the government to hand over the tape as well as the entire set of allegations against Sarari to the CBI so that they can be probed thoroughly,” he told the media.
Demanding chief minister Bhagwant Mann explain why no action had been taken against Sarari, Majithia said, “In the case of former health minister Vijay Kumar Singla, the chief minister had asserted that he had seen a video which indicted Singla and that this was why he was sacking him besides registering a case in the matter.”
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