Punjab govt 'played fraud' with Governor: Akali Dal

Chandigarh, Oct 21 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has played a fraud with the constitutional head of the state, Athe Governor, as well as Punjabis by sending a letter to the Governor in English but releasing its forged and fabricated version in Punjabi on social media.

In a statement here, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said the fraud had been perpetrated in the name of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann along with the latter's signature.

"The Chief Minister should disclose whether he was party to this act and whether it had his acquiescence. If not then the Chief Minister should get an FIR registered in the case and institute a high-level probe into the entire matter.

"Since the issue is also one of constitutional propriety, the SAD also urges the Governor to direct the Chief Minister to order an independent inquiry into the issue and ensure exemplary punishment for those guilty of forging documents as well as their dissemination."

Cheema said the fact that neither the Chief Minister nor the AAP government had issued a clarification on the issue despite the matter being pointed out by the Governor himself indicated AAP was playing politics on the issue.

"AAP is a master in the art of deception, but it was not expected that the party would indulge in this practice while communicating with the Governor... such subterfuge is not becoming of the office of the Chief Minister."

The SAD leader also questioned the AAP government as to how Punjabis could have faith in their announcements when the government had deceived the constitutional head who had sworn it to power.

Referring to the announcement about the old pension scheme being reintroduced in the state, Cheema said "it seems this has been done to woo government employees in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. If this was not the case the AAP government, which presented its budget in June, would have kept provision for this scheme in the current financial year".

He also asked the Chief Minister to explain how he would implement the old pension scheme while asserting that it had not been implemented in Delhi also.