Punjab Technical Education Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh on Monday urged Congress chief Sonia Gandhi "to intervene into the allotment of party ticket from Bholath to Sukhpal Singh Khaira" for the state Assembly polls and demanded his expulsion while calling him "a tainted minister" for his alleged involvement in 'drug money' laundering.
In a letter to Gandhi, Rana said, "He (Khaira) is currently in jail in connection with the money laundering case. It is not the routine money laundering case of unaccounted wealth or money. It relates to drug money. The money in question has been made through drugs, which is unacceptable and indefensible."
The minister also said that the Congress party has always been against drugs. "In fact, it was our worthy former President Rahul Gandhi Ji who had flagged the issue in 2015, while referring to the serious problem of drugs in Punjab," he said in the letter while adding, "how can our party give a ticket to someone who is tainted by drug charges or to any of his family members?"
"It will be difficult for the Congress leaders and contestants to defend the indefensible that on the one hand, we have sworn that we will eliminate drugs and on the other hand we are giving a party ticket to a tainted person who is in jail accused of money laundering which he accumulated from drugs," he added in his letter.
Rana further said that this was high time that the Congress party should take a stand on the issue of drugs and someone who is tainted and is in jail for the same charges should not get the party ticket.
"He is not winning anyways and allotting the party ticket to him or any of his family members will not only send a wrong signal but will also mean wasting a precious constituency and during a crucial election," he added.
He claimed that as a "loyal and humble Congressman, who has served in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha for the last two decades" projecting and defending the Congress policies, principles and ideals, he could not turn a blind eye to what was happening in his party and that too just next to his own assembly constituency.
Notably, Rana Gurjeet has been campaigning for his son Rana Inder Pratap Singh, who is fighting as an Independent candidate from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala after the Congress refused to give him the ticket instead of its sitting two-time MLA.
( With inputs from ANI )
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