The opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday accused the Congress-led Punjab government of shifting the blame for the Amritsar train tragedy, which claimed nearly 60 lives, on the Railways and of inaction against the organisers.
It also termed the magisterial probe ordered by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as a "cover-up" to give a clean chit to state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who was the chief guest at the ill-fated Dussehra celebration on Friday.
The SAD's attack comes a day after the Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jhakar alleged that the Indian Railways was "running away" from a probe.
"It is an afterthought to shift the blame. The commissioner of the (Amritsar) Municipal Corporation is saying there was no permission (for the Dussehra function). The land (where the event was held) belongs to the (municipal) corporation. Who else could have given permission? Nobody," SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said here.
"The Railways was not organising the Dussehra function and it was not even informed about the event. Somebody does not know about the function and you want to shift the blame on them to save your own family," he added.
"As soon as Saurabh Madan Mitthu (organiser of the event) is nabbed, he will spill the beans about (Navjot Kaur) Sidhu," Majithia said.
"You can only be held responsible if you have been told about the eventwhy were they making announcements from stage that 5,000 people are standing?" he asked.
More From This Section
According to a purported video of the Dussehra event which went viral, an organiser of the Dussehra event had boasted on stage before Navjot Kaur Sidhu that over 5,000 people were standing on the train tracks to witness the function.
SAD patriarch and former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said the tragedy could have easily been avoided if Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife had shown a sense of responsibility and refused to be associate with an event which did not have the requisite permissions.
"Thousands had been brought to the venue, which was highly vulnerable and tragedy-prone as it was adjacent to a busy railway line where long distance trains routinely ply, by the organisers who enjoy direct patronage and protection of the Sidhus," he said.
"If they had sought the government's permission, it would in all probability have been denied or would have been granted only in consultation with the Railways," he added.
Badal said instead of taking responsibility, the "villains" were busy "brazenly painting" themselves as the "heroes".
"They are working overtime to shift focus from their own culpability and to put the blame on others," he added.
Badal claimed that the site of the Dussehra event belonged to the local bodies department, of which Navjot Singh Sidhu is the minister.
"They misused their clout in the government and showed scant respect for law and to considerations of public safety," he said.
He added that the tragedy could have been averted if the function had not been delayed to accommodate the VIPs.
According to reports, Navjot Kaur Sidhu arrived at the event later than the scheduled time.
Badal also targeted Singh, who will reportedly be heading on a four-day holiday to Turkey later this week after completing an official visit to Israel.
He accused Singh of being insensitive for choosing to leave the state and its people at such a time and proceed on an "utterly avoidable foreign trip".
Earlier, a delegation of the SAD-BJP had submitted a memorandum to Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore, demanding registration of a criminal case against Navjot Singh Sidhu, his wife and the organisers of the event.
It had also demanded a judicial probe into the accident by a sitting high court judge.