DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday said SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia's attack on the state police chief is a "shameful attempt" to "exploit" the hooch tragedy and push his party's "political agenda" with an eye on next assembly polls. Singh was responding to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader's statement accusing Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta of "shielding" SSP Amritsar (rural) Dhruv Dahiya over his alleged failure to act on a complaint against the liquor mafia, when he was district police chief of Tarn Taran, leading to the tragedy. There was no question or need of "shielding" an officer who had an unblemished track record against drug and illicit liquor smugglers or traders, said the chief minister in a statement here. Noting that Dahiya was in his personal security, Singh said, "A person who has links with the mafia, as was being suggested by the SAD, could hardly be trusted with my security." Highlighting that all senior supereintendents of police and deputy commissioners are appointed directly by him, Singh said the state DGP or chief secretary can not be held responsible for their actions in any case. Contrary to what Majithia has been "falsely" claiming, the SSP had received no specific complaint from any citizen about manufacturing of hooch, said the chief minister. In fact, if there had been even a suspicion of the SSP protecting or conniving with the liquor smugglers, I would have been the first to take action against the officer, as I had done against five others immediately after the tragedy came to light, he said. Expressing shock at SAD's continued attempts to seize the major tragedy for promoting their "own vested interests", Singh said it reflected the "appalling low" that the party has touched in its desperation to connect with people. Singh pointed out that the entire supply chain in the hooch tragedy, originating from Ludhiana and moving via Moga to Tarn Taran, Amritsar (rural) and Batala was unearthed from the investigation conducted by Dahiya. Meanwhile, the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal on Thursday accused the Punjab government of failing to provide medical care to the people who lost their vision allegedly after consuming spurious liquor. Senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia made the charge at a press conference along with the relatives of five people who lost their vision in the hooch tragedy.The spurious liquor tragedy in Punjab has killed 121 people in three districts. The maximum 92 fatalities were reported from Tarn Taran, followed by 15 in Amritsar and 14 in Gurdaspur's Batala. At the press conference, relatives of two people claimed that they had to spend Rs 20,000 and Rs 42,000 respectively in private hospitals, while the family of another victim said they had to pay for injections while admitted at a government hospital in Tarn Taran. The relatives claimed that no Congress legislator or district functionary visited them in hospital. (editor@dailyworld.in)