'Seed scam': Pb minister says Akalis trying to gain political mileage, SAD seeks CBI probe

Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Wednesday alleged the Akalis are trying to gain "cheap political mileage" by dragging his name into an alleged seed scam, even as SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia sought a CBI probe into the matter. Majithia had on May 23 claimed that a close associate of Randhawa was allegedly involved in supplying "spurious" paddy seeds which were not approved for sale by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

"It has become a habit, though a nasty one, of the Akalis to level allegations of absolutely baseless nature every now and then against me. But they should base their stance on facts and not information of false and misleading nature," Randhawa said in a statement here. He claimed the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is "dragging" his name into the so-called seed scam just to gain "cheap political mileage".

He added that he has nothing to do with the owner of a Gurdaspur-based unit who has been accused of supplying the "spurious" seeds to a store in Ludhiana. Randhawa claimed the erstwhile SAD-BJP government had granted license to the seed unit owner, who was close to an Akali leader.

The minister said he is ready to face a time-bound probe into the matter but the Akalis should also be ready for an investigation for "acts of omission and commission" committed by them. Demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged scam, Majithia said it is unfortunate that "even a fortnight after the scam came to light... no attempt has been made to raid facilities manufacturing and hoarding spurious seeds".

"No arrests have been made in the case. It seems the government is giving time to the scamsters to wipe out all evidence and doctor their records," the SAD leader said in a statement here. A raid was conducted at a Ludhiana-based seed store and more than 750 quintals of seeds packaged as PR-129 and 100 quintals packaged as PR-128 were seized, the SAD had claimed on Saturday.

But, it had also alleged, no action was taken against the supplier..