By IANS,
Chandigarh : Former Punjab chief minister and senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh was Wednesday expelled from the Punjab state assembly for allegedly favouring a private party in granting a plot of prime land in Amritsar during his days in power.
The expulsion came after an assembly committee recommended action against Amarinder Singh after holding him guilty of involvement in the land scam when his Congress government was in power (2002-07).
An unperturbed, confident-looking Amarinder Singh walked out of the assembly complex Wednesday evening and vowed to fight the “vendetta unleashed against him by the Akali Dal government” in the state.
“The decision and action of the committee is unconstitutional and against jurisprudence. I will approach the Punjab and Haryana high court. If need be, I will seek re-election from my Patiala seat,” Amarinder Singh, flanked by enthusiastic legislators and slogan-shouting supporters, told reporters here.
“I am not afraid of (Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh) Badal. We will go to court on this issue and also to the people’s court. We will show them where these Akalis stand,” Amarinder Singh said.
The house committee dominated by the ruling Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance had held Amarinder Singh and others in his government guilty of their role in the Amritsar land scam.
The former chief minister was indicted for violating “norms in patronizing and abetting the dilution of terms for favouring a particular party in executing a city centre project” on 32 acres of prime land. This had allegedly caused huge losses to the state exchequer.
The three Congress legislators on the committee had dissented on the recommendations.
The Punjab assembly speaker announced the expulsion of Amarinder Singh. His Patiala assembly seat was declared vacant and the Election Commission will be approached to hold a by-election there.
The committee also recommended that the Punjab vigilance bureau investigate the case against Amarinder Singh and others and submit its findings within two months.
Over three and half years of the current Punjab assembly, elected February last year, are still left.
Amarinder Singh is facing a vigilance probe in other corruption-related cases like the multi-billion Ludhiana city centre scam separately.
The former chief minister, who walked into the assembly session Wednesday expecting some action against him in the house, seemed emboldened after he was expelled.
“I am apprehending arrest by the Akali Dal government. I have an anticipatory bail from the high court in my pocket but I will not use it. Let them arrest me and put me behind bars. They are doing all this because I put Badal and his son (Sukhbir Badal, the Akali Dal president) in jail on corruption charges,” Amarinder Singh said.