Amarinder warns Badal against threats to officers

Chandigarh, Aug 1 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday warned Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal against issuing threats to bureaucrats and police officers, saying his government would not tolerate it.

Reacting to Badal's reported threat to officers who he claimed were registering false cases against SAD workers at the behest of "Congress masters", the Chief Minister said his government did not believe in victimisation or vindictive action and was following the democratic norms in every case.

Amarinder Singh warned the former Deputy Chief Minister "to desist from engaging in provocative statements and deeds that could disturb disrupt the state's peace and stability.

"My government will come down heavily against any individual or organisation found indulging in such activity," he said in a statement issued here.

Rejecting allegations that his government or its officers were filing false cases against the Akalis, the Chief Minister said it was the erstwhile Badal government which believed in filing false and baseless cases against Congress workers.

"Our government is now getting all such cases probed by a duly constituted Commission to ensure that justice is delivered to the innocent and the guilty are punished under the law."

Slamming the "Jabar Virodhi Lehar" campaign of the Akali Dal, he said Sukhbir Singh and other Akali leaders were "spreading misinformation to save their own skin".

"With their misdeeds getting exposed one by one before the people of Punjab, they were now resorting to all kinds of cheap tactics, out of sheer desperation to divert public attention," he added.