Chandigarh: Dismissing Charanjit Singh Channi’s denial of involvement in illegal sand mining as a total lie, Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday said that as chief minister, he had received specific inputs that Channi had a share in the mafia, along with several other Congress leaders and MLAs in Punjab.
“From top to bottom, right up to the level of senior ministers, many people were involved, as I had told Sonia Gandhi while I was chief minister. She asked me what action I was taking in the matter, and I told her I will have to start from the top. The one and only mistake I made during my entire tenure was that I did not take any action then, out of my sense of loyalty to the Congress, since I did not get a go-ahead from Sonia,” said the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) leader.
While Channi’s involvement in the mining mafia and in the #metoo incident had exposed him as a contemptible character unworthy of ruling Punjab, Navjot Sidhu’s mental instability made him totally unfit to run the state, said Captain Amarinder, dismissing both the Congress leaders as utterly useless. Expressing surprise at what Rahul Gandhi saw in these people, he said the Congress decision to sideline him for such men was inexplicable.
In an interview to a TV channel, Captain Amarinder spoke in detail about Channi’s #metoo case, which he said was not pursued by the lady in question as she accepted the then minister’s apology. Had she wanted to pursue the case, I would have taken action against Channi, he said, adding that his only role in the matter was to ask Channi to apologise to the woman officer, which he did and the apology was duly accepted by the lady.