BJP demands judicial probe into Chandigarh spat

BJP demands judicial probe into Chandigarh spatChandigarh, Oct 24 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday demanded a judicial probe in the ongoing spat between Punjab Governor Gen. (retd) S. F. Rodrigues, who is also the administrator of this Union Territory (UT), and two ministers in the central government.

"People of this city are witnessing this drama of administrator S. F. Rodrigues and union ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ambika Soni for the last many months. We want a senior high court judge to probe into the allegations made by both parties," BJP leader Satya Pal Jain told reporters here.

"We know that a high court judge is normally very busy but we have no other option. A CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) or CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) inquiry will be of no avail in this matter, because the involvement of two union ministers can hinder the probe," he alleged.

Jain, who was elected MP from Chandigarh seat twice earlier, lost this year's May general elections to Bansal.

"It is really sad that Bansal has also dragged my name in his personal conflict with the administrator. He said that the administrator helped BJP in the May elections. This prompted me to break my silence of the last more than five months," he said, adding that the administrator had rather helped Congress in the last elections by issuing two notifications just before the election code of conduct came into effect.

A few days back, Rodrigues had said that Bansal and Soni were using their positions to defame him, claiming they were annoyed with him as he highlighted serious anomalies in land allotment to their DPS (Delhi Public School) society in Chandigarh.

In retaliation, Bansal lashed out at Rodrigues Friday and accused him of playing into the hands of private land developers and levelling false allegations.

Jain said he wanted to clarify that neither the BJP nor he had any relation with Rodrigues. "He is so close to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh that Congress party forced the then administrator O. P. Verma to resign, three years before his tenure, to accommodate him," the BJP leader alleged. (IANS)