Punjab Cong leaders meet PM, seek probe into ‘funds misuse’

The Punjab Congress MPs and MLAs on Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order an inquiry by an independent agency into alleged misuse/ diversion of central funds and subsidised materials by the SAD (Badal)-BJP government in the state.

Raising this demand during a meeting here, the delegation, led by Punjab Congress chief and former chief minister Amarinder Singh and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Sunil Jakhar, also sought a CBI probe into the cases of "political vendetta" against party workers.

The Punjab leaders demanded a CBI probe into the alleged misuse of Central funds in the state from 2007 to 2012.

The issues of delayed procurement of wheat and an industrial package for the state were also raised at the meeting.

The MPs and MLAs also demanded extension of the freight corridor to the Attari/Amritsar border and setting up of an integrated checkpost at Hussainiwala border in Ferozpur on the lines of the one in Amritsar, re-opening of the pre-Independence era railway link between Bathinda and Karachi via Abohar/ Hindumalkot, besides special consideration to border districts and setting up of food processing and large scale PSUs.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Amarinder Singh said, "We sought his (the PM's) intervention for a CBI probe in cases of political vendetta against Congress workers in the state at the hands of Akalis."

Incidentally, Amarinder Singh's bete noire and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and some of the MLAs opposed to him were not a part of the delegation.

Asked about the Prime Minister's response, Jakhar said: "He gave us a patient hearing and assured that he would look into the demands. On the matter of vendetta cases against Congress workers, he asked for documents with more concrete information."

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