CM Channi’s name had come up during internal probe into illicit mining: Ex-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh
India Today
On Sunday, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s name had come up during an internal probe into illicit mining in the state that he had ordered under his rule.
On Sunday, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s name had come up during an internal probe into illicit mining in the state that he had ordered under his rule.
“Will the chief minister accept that he did it? He will say it is vendetta politics,” Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh said.
Earlier this week, the Enforcement Directorate raided multiple locations in Punjab, including premises linked to a relative of CM Channi, in relation to illegal sand mining. The ED recovered Rs 10 crore in cash and valuables from CM Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey and one Sandeep Singh. CM Channi of the Congress has maintained that the ED was being used by the BJP-led Centre to harass him ahead of the Punjab polls.
Amarinder Singh, whose party has now joined hands with the BJP ahead of the Punjab polls, said of the time when he was chief minister of the state, “I was flying over Hoshiarpur region. I spotted trucks along the banks of river Sutlej. In fact, I told the Ropar police to find out what was going on. It was found that many parties were involved. The case was handed over to the special task force. I also set up a second team under an Inspector General of Police.”
When asked about other Congress leaders who were allegedly involved in illicit mining, Captain Amarinder Singh said, “CM Channi is one of them. I will not make the others public now. When you name somebody, you must know the results of the investigation. There was no investigation carried out.”
He added that when Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked him about the issue and what he was doing about it, he had asked her should be done but she remained silent. “So, I did nothing,” he said.
However, Captain Amarinder Singh conceded that CM Channi was a good minister. Navjot Singh Sidhu, on the other hand, is incompetent, he said. “He did not clear his files for as long as seven months," he said.
