RATTLED SAD WANTS TO SCREEN WORKERS
The Shiromani Akali Dal expelled youth Akali leader who was arrested with 22 kg heroin causing embarrassment to the party as the issue rocked the Vidhan Sabha. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal has also ordered screening of party workers.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that screening has been ordered for checking the credentials of party workers to identify persons with "shady characters." All the district presidents of the party have been directed to check the credentials of party functionaries, he told a Press conference here on Tuesday afternoon.
The district unit chiefs have also been directed to keep a watch on party functionaries, he added. Badal said the party has expelled Parshotam Lal Sondhi, a vice-president of the youth wing of the party, who was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence on March 23 at Amritsar with heroin.
The SAD chief said the reorganisation of the party would be announced within a week. Badal said the State Government has taken every possible step to secure the release of Sarabjit Singh, whose death sentence has been deferred by Pakistan by a month.
"We are trying through all official channels," he said. Unlike former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who held direct talks with Pakistan officials, the present Government has taken up the case through the Centre, he said. "We cannot deal directly with a foreign country," he said.
Source : Punjab Mail Online
