As raids on properties of former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukbir continue, the Shiromani Akali Dal is launching a counter-offensive against Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh tomorrow from the Golden Temple.‘‘Amarinder is good at this,’’ confessed Sukhbir, whose Orbit Resort at Gurgaon has been under the Punjab Vigilance Bureau’s scanner for three days now. ‘‘He did this (raids) to (Prem Kumar) Dhumal (former chief minister of Himachal) in the run up to Assembly elections there and now he’s doing the same to Akalis as Parliamentary elections are approaching,’’ Sukhbir told The Indian Express.Akalis have since upgraded the function to celebrate the recent amalgamation of the Badal and G.S. Tohra factions, to a full-fledged rally at Manji Sahib in Golden Temple.Accusing Amarinder of playing political games, Sukhbir predicted the Punjab CM would allow his campaign to linger till Lok Sabha elections. ‘‘However, it does not pay in the long-run as people can see through the gameplan,’’ he added.Sukhbir, a Rajya Sabha member, said: ‘‘The entire police, Vigilance Bureau is under the Raja. What can we do. All I want is a fair trial and not trial through media.’’ The Akalis, he said, would pursue their mass contact programme to expose ‘‘Amarinder’s lies’’. ‘‘Amarinder should prove all the charges he has been levelling against us or he should quit politics,’’ he said. Sukhbir promised to ‘‘give up public life, if anyone proves that I own an inch of land abroad.’’Hinting at what the Akalis would tell people in their rallies after tomorrow’s show, Sukhbir said: ‘‘Amarinder mostly remains outside Punjab — you can find him in a particular hotel in Delhi or he’s in his palace in Himachal Pradesh.’’The Amarinder government, according to Akalis, has ignored development of the state and has wasted public funds in ‘‘trying to fabricate cases against Badal’’.While the Badals claim Amarinder has found nothing against them, the Akalis are not apologetic about owning wealth. ‘‘My ancestors owned huge properties in Punjab, Himachal, Rajasthan and Haryana. Besides we are a prominent agriculturist and transport family of Punjab and all our investments are shown in our Income Tax returns,’’ Sukhbir said.On being asked about his party’s relationship with NDA, the Akali RS MP said: ‘‘We would fight them all by ourselves,’’ and refused to speak further. Meanwhile, the Vigilance Bureau searched Sukhbir’s resort in Gurgaon for the third day. A senior Punjab Vigilance officer told PTI that they were measuring the entire premises, including built up and under construction structures within the 17-acre resort. The properties yet to be searched include Sukhbir’s official residence and two flats in New Delhi, his personal assistant Krishan Kumar’s house and a farmhouse at Balasar in Haryana while those raided include Sukhbir’s house and offices in Chandigarh, farm near Kharar and some petrol pumps.
