State helicopter used to fly Harish Rawat to Chandigarh, he should be asked to pay: Shiromani Akali Dal

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday condemned the Congress government for "misusing the state chopper" to fly in party general secretary Harish Rawat to Chandigarh as part of the ongoing parleys with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the Congress high command to resolve the internal rift in the Punjab Congress.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday condemned the Congress government for "misusing the state chopper" to fly in party general secretary Harish Rawat to Chandigarh as part of the ongoing parleys with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and the Congress high command to resolve the internal rift in the Punjab Congress. Demanding a probe into the matter, SAD spokesperson Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking that the Punjab Congress was misusing state assets to this extent.

"There is no justification for flying in Rawat to Chandigarh on state expense when the Congress general secretary has officially stated that he is visiting the union territory to discuss party affairs with the Chief Minister. Rawat should be asked to pay for the ride or else the chief minister should make the desired payment to the state treasury from his personal funds. State funds cannot be used to solve the infighting in the Punjab Congress," he said. Harish Rawat is AICC incharge of Punjab.

The SAD leader said Congress had promised that "the use of a helicopter for travel by the chief minister and ministers will be forbidden except in case of emergency or calamity". He accused Congress of not fulfilling its poll promises made to the people of the state.

The SAD leader alleged that Capt Amarinder Singh had "also misused" the state helicopter recently to answer repeated summons from the Congress high command in Delhi in the last two months. "The helicopter, however, was not used to visit any hospital during the peak of the Covid pandemic or to provide solace to farmers suffering from a power crisis or even meeting employees agitating against the Congress government across the state," he said.

The SAD leader asked the chief minister to ensure the state helicopter was not used for personal party work in the future. Punjab is slated to go for assembly polls early next year. (ANI)

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