Take command of turmoil in Pb or retire: Amarinder to CM Badal

Senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh kept up his attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal asking him to either take command from the front to control the turbulent situation in the state or retire from his post.
"The Chief Minister should take responsibility. If he feels he has grown old, let him take retirement and make his son (Sukhbir) the Chief Minister. But it is not fair that you occupy the post and not accept responsibly," Singh said.
The Congress Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of his book on 1965 India- Pakistan war here last evening.

"If Badal thinks that by tendering a verbal apology, without actually meaning it, he will get away with everything then he is badly mistaken," he said.
Asked about the allegedly worsening law and order situation in Punjab, Singh said, "Where is the Chief Minister. Why is he silent, why is he not coming out. It is his job. The Chief Minister should be handling the state, not the Deputy Chief Minister."
On Akali leaders facing protests from various sections and even being greeted with black flags, the former Chief Minister said, "There is so much anger among the public with these Akalis that people are not going to garland them. Congress feels that they have destroyed the State."

"The people are forced to take to the streets as they feel this government has failed and cannot stop incidents of repeated desecrations. If the Akali government cannot stop desecrations of the holy Guru Granth Sahib, then what are they there for," Amarinder said.

"To cover up their failures the Akalis find a convenient way to shoot innocent people and point fingers at others," he said, adding, prosecuting the leaders who attended the recent 'Sarbat Khalsa' was wrong.
"I am against anything like arrest. You cannot solve things with these kind of arrests. I have seen a lot. This chap, Sukhbir, was just a school boy then (during dark days of militancy). It is time to set things right, not to vitiate the atmosphere," he said.

Singh said, no one was buying Akali Dal's theory that
Congress was responsible for holding the Sarbat Khalsa, adding, "they are feeling frustrated at growing public anger against them."
On the claim by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and other SAD leaders that he is mostly abroad and not seen in Punjab, Singh said, "Sukhbir knows nothing, for two weeks I went to London in past 18 months. He goes abroad every month for shopping."
The Congress leader said, his party is ready for Punjab Assembly polls which are due in early 2017. "We are prepared and we will win," he said.

Commending Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for his "understated" role in the victory of the Grand Alliance in Bihar polls, the Amritsar MP said, time has come for him to take over the reins of the party.
"I think he has done a very good job in Bihar polls. The party has decided that his elevation is going to take place in February-March next year or whenever they decide. I think it is right time for him to come at the helm," Amarinder said.
The Congress leader said the party High Command had sought his opinion about Rahul's elevation to which he had said it was the right time for him to take over.

On the state government directing Punjab Agricultural University not to conduct further field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard crops, following concerns expressed by civil society group, Singh, said, "There is a time and place for everything."
"Earlier, you had open polynated varieties, then came the hybrids. Now as along with the world India's food requirements grow, you have to have genetically modified crops. What is BT Cotton, it is genetically modified," he said.
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AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said Amarinder's statement that he will order a reinvestigation into the drug racket case allegedly involving Majithia was "laughable stuff" and asked why did the former chief minister save his "nephew" earlier.

"When Amarinder promises re-investigation into the case, it is nothing but laughable stuff for all Punjabis, who know very well that it was Amarinder, who had earlier saved his nephew Majithia from a CBI probe," he said in a statement.
"Amarinder had rejected his party's demand for a CBI probe into Majithia's role in the multi-crore drug racket.
"What happened now? Has Amarinder lost faith in Punjab Police, who on expected lines gave a clean chit not only to Majithia but his other conduits, including Maninder Singh, Jagjit Singh Chahal, Satnam Satta and Jagdish Bhola," he alleged.