DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab cabinet ministers Thursday demanded immediate expulsion of Rajya Sabha MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo from the Congress for their criticism of the state government over the recent hooch tragedy. In a press statement, the ministers described the MPs' acts as "gross indiscipline" and said they have rendered themselves "useless" and of "no value" to the party. They need to be shunted out without any delay, the ministers said. The demand for action against the two Rajya Sabha members came two days after Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar said he would write to party president Sonia Gandhi to seek "strict action" against their "brazen indiscipline". Bajwa and Dullo had targeted their own party's government over the liquor tragedy that claimed 113 lives recently. They also petitioned Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore for a probe by the CBI as well as the Enforcement Directorate into the alleged "illegal" liquor trade. Indiscipline could not be tolerated at any time, least of all when assembly elections in the state are less than two years away, the ministers said. Instead of doing their job as MPs, they seem intent on "destabilising" their own government, either out of their "own greed" for power or at the bidding of those who want to destabilise the Congress in Punjab, the ministers alleged. The ministers said that by bypassing party and government forums to protest against the handling of the hooch tragedy and by approaching the Governor, the two MPs have not only attacked the very basis of democratic governance but also sought to undermine the Punjab police. "This is not the way democratic systems and institutions are meant to function," they said in the statement. The ministers said the two MPs had never "bothered" to raise any issue of the interest of the state they represent in Rajya Sabha. "Why did they not press for the completion of the ED probe into the drugs issue during the Akali regime? Why did they not protest in the House against the anti-farm Ordinances of the Union Government? Why did they never speak about the CBI's failure to probe the sacrilege cases?" the ministers asked. A CBI probe was needed only if the police failed to deliver, which was definitely not the case at present, they said. The ministers expressed full faith and confidence in the Punjab police to bring every guilty to book in the spurious liquor case as well. The decision on recommending or not recommending a CBI probe rests with the state government, and not with two MPs, the ministers said. Instead of feeling even remotely apologetic, these MPs continue to be on the offensive, going so far as to launch a personal attack on PPCC president Sunil Jakhar, they said. "How can party MPs from a state go around openly criticising the chief of their own state unit," they asked, adding that the Congress had a strong leadership in Punjab and did not need two "indisciplined" members denting the image. (editor@dailyworld.in)