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).
A confident-looking Amarinder Singh walked out of the assembly complex Wednesday evening unperturbed and vowed to fight back 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.
The house committee dominated by the ruling Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had earlier held Amarinder Singh and others in his government guilty of a land scam in Amritsar when in power.
The former chief minister was indicted for violating “norms in patronising and abetting the dilution of terms for favouring a particular party in executing a city centre project” on 32 acres of prime land in Amritsar. This had allegedly caused huge losses to state exchequer.
The three Congress legislators on the committee had dissented on the recommendations of the committee.
The Punjab assembly speaker announced the expulsion of Amarinder Singh here.
The committee also recommended that the Punjab vigilance bureau investigate the case against Amarinder and others and submit its findings within two months.
Over three and half years of the current Punjab assembly, elected last year, are still left.