Stung by a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment that gave former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal a clean chit in the Kotkapura firing case, the state government on Monday decided to form a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. The government has also decided to file a limited Special Leave Petition (SLP) appeal in Supreme Court against the High Court’s strictures against the SIT probe head Kunwar Vijay Pratap.
In a dramatic development, the Punjab Congress Unit Chief Sunil Jakhar and Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa reportedly offered to step down during a cabinet meeting to discuss the fallout of the High Court order. Sources said that they were upset over the government’s alleged political and administrative failure in taking the SIT probe to its logical conclusion.
The move came after Singh expressed his anguish over some ministers attacking the state government publicly. He reportedly told the cabinet that if some ministers did not have faith in him, they should step down instead of publicly targeting the government.