The former Punjab CM who is at present on a trip to London, however, dismissed reports about his alleged affair with a Pak journalist as ‘sheer speculation’.
CHANDIGARH: Within days of vacating office, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, scion of the Patiala royal family, is embroiled in an unsavoury controversy about his alleged affair with a Pakistani journalist.
Father to two grown-up children, Amarinder, who is at present on a trip to London, however, dismissed the reports as ‘sheer speculation’.
Even as the matter is being discussed, both, among the Congress and the Akali Dal leaders, rumours about his intimate relations with the journalist are doing the rounds.
Acting president of the Akali Dal Sukhbir Singh Badal has sought intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to ascertain the veracity of the reports and take action against the scion of the Royal family. Sukhbir said the former chief minister had escorted the Pakistani journalist to Ajmer and Jodhpur during the pre-election days and had maintained close relations with her during his visits to Punjab (Pakistan).
Chairman of the anti-terrorist front Maninderjit Singh Bitta demanded a high-level inquiry into the reports saying that the Pakistani journalists accompanied the former chief minister to various defence establishments as well. Bitta said the credentials of the Pakistan journalists should be verified and Amarinder must be questioned on the matter.
Bitta suspected that the journalist might have acted as a spy for Pakistani authorities and might well have exploited her close relations with Amarinder to gather sensitive information about the defence establishments.
Perturbed by developments, leader of the Opposition and ex- deputy CM under Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal declined to comment on the matter saying that she was not aware of any such issue.
The reports about the alleged marriage of the former chief minister with a Pakistan-based journo appeared first in a section of the media in Pakistan, following which it was carried by a few punjabi dailies too. The reports said Amarinder developed relations with the Pakistan journo during his bonhomie visits to Punjab (Pakistan) as a chief
minister. Amarinder’s wife, Parneet Kaur, is at present a Lok Sabha MP from Patiala.
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