Sacrilege case: Sidhu demands removal of AG, DGP yet again; names sent to Centre, says Channi

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday again strongly demanded replacement of Punjab’s police chief and advocate general from his own party’s government, saying otherwise “we will have no face.” His tweet pressing the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government to change the director general of police and state’s advocate general appears to indicate that he continues to remain unhappy over certain key appointments. Sidhu tweeted:

On Saturday, Sidhu had said that he would stand with  Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi  whether he holds any post or not. “Will uphold principles of Gandhi Ji & Shastri Ji …Post or No Post will stand by @RahulGandhi & @priyankagandhi ! Let all negative forces try to defeat me, but with every ounce of positive energy will make Punjab win, Punjabiyat (Universal Brotherhood) win & every Punjabi win !!," Sidhu Sidhu had tweeted on the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on Saturday. The Punjab government on Friday appointed senior advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Rajwinder Singh Bains as special public prosecutor in an attempt to placate Sidhu. The development comes three days after Sidhu and Chief Minister Channi held a meeting, following which it was decided to set up a coordination panel for prior consultation on all major decisions of the state government. In response to Sidhu’s tweet, CM Channi said that the state government is awaiting a panel from the Centre regarding three names finalised for the post of DGP. Thereafter, the name of DGP would be finalised after consultation with PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, all ministers & MLAs.

A miffed Sidhu, who had resigned as the Punjab Congress chief a few days ago, had on Wednesday  raised questions over the appointments of director general of police, state’s advocate general and tainted leaders. Shortly before his meet with Channi, Sidhu took to Twitter to attack Director General of Police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota. Sidhu is reportedly upset with Sahota’s appointment as he had allegedly given a clean chit to the Badals as well as Baba Ram Rahim of Dera Sacha Sauda in the sacrilege cases. The cricketer-turned-politician is also raising questions over the appointment of AS Deol as the state’s new Advocate General. Deol was the counsel for former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in 2015 post the sacrilege police firing incidents. The abrupt resignation of Sidhu has triggered a fresh turmoil in the Punjab Congress. The Congress had replaced Amarinder Singh as Punjab chief minister with Charanjit Singh Channi following a bitter power tussle between Sidhu and Amarinder. The desecration of Guru Granth Sahib had taken place in Faridkot district in 2015 during the previous SAD-BJP regime. The sacrilege cases were related to theft of a ‘‘‘‘bir’’’’ (copy) of Guru Granth Sahib from a Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara on 1 June, 2015, putting up of hand-written sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala on 25 September and torn pages of the holy book being found at Bargari on 12 October, 2015 in Faridkot. Post the sacrilege incidents, protests had also broken out and police had opened fire at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in Faridkot. Two people, part of the anti-sacrilege protesters, were killed in the police firing at Behbal Kalan in 2015. With inputs from PTI