Jammu, May 03: Former MLC and senior BJP leader Vikram Singh Randhawa rolled many heads in Jammu and Kashmir after he levelled serious corruption allegations against Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh.
Randhawa, a senior political leader, who also heads J&K Stone Crusher Owners Association for the last 20 years, alleged that he has been served a notice worth lakhs by the Department of Geology and Mining as penalty, which is not acceptable.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Randhawa in a press conference here, levelled allegations against the Union MoS in PMO and his staff in Jammu for having hand in glove with the corrupt officers in the administration, police and other departments.
Randhawa threatened to self immolate along with his family members, if the notice served to him was not be reverted back within a week.
“To please the staff of the PMO, District Mining Office Ankur Sachdeva is greasing their palms but in return, he is penalising the Stone Crushers Owners at the behest of the senior leaders,” Randhawa alleged.
He said that if the government did not revert back the notices served to him as penalty, he will self immolate himself along with the family members next Monday outside the office of the District Mining Officer.
“Corruption is at its peak. I have been a loyal soldier of the BJP for the past three decades and I have no complaints with the party but a bunch of people are earning a bad name to the party by indulging into corrupt practices,” he alleged.
The BJP leader also named some of the officers in police and administration on record during the press conference and accused them for being hand-in-glove with the Department of Geology and Mining.
Soon after the allegations of corruption against Union MoS in the PMO and his staff, Dr Jitendra Singh’s office reacted and threatened to file a defamation case of Rs 1 crore against Randhawa.
Addressing a press conference, Sanjeev Sharma, BJP Executive Member and In-charge Parliamentary Affairs said that after listening to the press conference of Randhawa it seems that Randhawa is under someone’s pressure and was dictated for media briefing.
“He has levelled serious allegations against Dr Singh and taking the cognizance of his remarks, the Minister has decided to file a defamation case of Rs 1 crore against Randhawa,,” said Sharma.
He said that either he (Randhawa) should apologise publicly for his statement or prove the allegations in 24 hours with a proof otherwise, he has to face a defamation case of Rs 1 crore.
Meanwhile, District Mining Officer (DMO), Ankur Sachdeva, whose name also surfaced in the allegations levelled by Randhawa, told reporters that he has obeyed the Court orders, on whose directions illegal mining was stopped in the River Tawi bed.
“Randhawa is also having a crusher and he was among those indulging in illegal mining which was banned by the Court after a PIL was filed,” said Sachdeva.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) has appealed to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to hold a high level enquiry into the allegations made by former BJP MLC.
“It is serious a matter that a senior the BJP leader has levelled such allegations and we want to appeal to the LG Manoj Sinha to frame a high level committee and order probe into the matter,” said senior vice-president JKPCC, Yogesh Sawhney, in a message circulated on social media.
Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janta Party has served a show cause notice to Vikram Randhawa for “tarnishing” the party image in the public and for using unparliamentary language.
Randhawa has been directed to file the reply along with evidence, if any available with him, within next two days—(KNO)
