CHANDIGARH, November 21: The Congress today rejected HS Phoolka’s charges against Capt Amarinder Singh, saying he (Capt Amarinder) did not need any certificate from anybody, much less people like him (Phoolka), to justify his credentials in watching the interests of Punjab including the Sikh community.
They also strongly denied that he was trying to shield anyone involved in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 in the aftermath of the assassination of Ms Indira Gandhi. “Capt Amarinder has already revealed the names of those, he was told by the riot victims themselves, were involved in the killings”, they pointed out.
In a joint statement senior party leaders and legislators including Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Kewal Singh Dhillon asserted that Capt Amarinder’s credentials were too strong to need any clarification from anyone.
The Congress leaders maintained that having been rejected by the AAP for his Chief Ministerial ambitions, Phoolka was now trying to warm up to the BJP and had started levelling baseless charges against Capt Amarinder. “We would advise you to search something else for your political survival than levelling baseless charges against Capt Amarinder as nobody was going to buy these”, they told Phoolka.
However, they asked Phoolka as what prompted him to wake up to level these charges against Capt Amarinder now. “Why have you been silent so far and why have you changed your direction from earlier targeting the Badals to Capt Amarinder now?” they asked, while hinting that Phoolka was cosying up to the BJP and in turn to the Badals.
The Congress legislators said, Phoolka had fallen into the BJP hands now and they were using him to level baseless allegations against Capt Amarinder as they had nothing else to speak against him. They asked him as why he was silent over the role of RSS as over 100 workers were named in the FIRs for their involvement in the anti-Sikh riots.