CHANDIGARH: Senior Punjab Congress leader and former Chief Minister, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has made it clear that she would not vacate the government kothi allotted to her at any cost and would not hesitate to knock at the doors of the Punjab and Haryana High Court if the need arises.
Talking to pressmen at her residence on Sunday she said the claim of the Badal government that this kothi was allotted to her as leader of the Opposition was false and baseless. She had been living in this kothi for the past more than a decade and a half. This kothi was allotted to her when she was a minister. Later, she continued to occupy it as Chief Minister and the leader of the Opposition.
Therefore, the Badal government's claim that this kothi was earmarked for the leader of the Oppsition was absolutely wrong.
She alleged that the Badal government was deliberately raking up this issue as a part of its divide and rule policy. It wanted to pit her against the present leader of the Opposition, Sunil Jakhar by insisting that she should vacate it for her party leader.
The fact of the matter was that when Parkash Sigh Badal himself was the leader of the Opposition, he was allotted kothi no. 50 which was handed over by him to his friend, INLD leader, Om Parkash Chautala. Similarly, a kothi earmarked for the Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha had now been allotted to the Information and Public Relations Minister, Bikram Singh Majithia.
Can the Badal government explain to the people of the state why the kothi which was earlier occupied by Harnam Dass Johar, Harcharan Singh Ajnala and Charanjit Singh Atwal as speaker of the Vidhan Sabha had now been allotted to Majithia.
Bhattal said that the government had allotted kothis to the family of the late Beant Singh and the former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala on grounds of security. She had also fought against terrorism. Why kothi was not being allotted to her on security considerations.
Was it because she was a woman and daughter of freedom fighter to whom the Badal government only pretended to show consideration.
