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Out on bail, Badal wants Amarinder to prove majority

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH DEC. 12. Arguing that the ruling Congress had split into two, the Shiromani Akali Dal has appealed to the Punjab Governor to convene a special session of the Assembly and direct the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, to seek a vote of confidence.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the party's top decision-making body, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), here this afternoon. Talking to newspersons later, the Akali Dal president, Parkash Singh Badal, said that Capt. Amarinder Singh must face a trial of strength after he had admitted the support of just 40 legislators in the 117-member House. The party would submit a memorandum to the Governor seeking the convening of Assembly at the earliest.

Mr. Badal said that Capt. Amarinder Singh's statement indicated that the present State Government was reduced to a minority. He said as all Ministers and MLAs of the ruling Congress had been camping in Delhi for the last few days, the administration in the State had come to standstill. "The government has not only fled the Secretariat but also from its responsibility and accountability to the people of the State," he added.

Though Mr. Badal claimed that no Congress faction had approached the Akalis for support, he said the party would take an "appropriate" decision as the situation "crystallised". Denying that the Congress dissidents were being prompted by Akalis, the former Chief Minister said the present crisis in that party was its internal matter. Mr. Badal said the PAC has also demanded an independent inquiry, preferably by the CBI, into allegations of corruption levelled openly against the Chief Minister by his Cabinet colleague, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

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