LAHORE-Senior Punjab Minister, Raja Riaz on Wednesday came out in the open, as he severely criticised Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif for his, what he called, bad governance, keeping all powers with him and alleged rigging of the recent by-elections in Punjab. Addressing an iftar dinner-cum-news conference at his residence, Raja also came down hard on the judiciary for disqualifying a PPP candidate from Bahawapur two days ahead of the polling. He called the court delivering that verdict as Sharif Court. The senior minister was accompanied by PPPs Punjab Acting President, Sami Ullah Khan and other party leaders including Misbah-ur-Rehman, Hassan Murtaza and Zekria Butt. He alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched in Chief Ministers Secretariat to keep the PPP out of the election. The senior minister warned of severe consequences if Punjab government tried to rig the coming by-election in Bahawalpur. The PPP would pay in the same coin if the government tried to rig the coming election in Bahawalpur like it did earlier in Sargodha and Gujrawala, he cautioned. The PPP minister strongly disagreed with governments assertion that RPO, Gujranwala and Commissioner Sialkot had been transferred on administrative grounds. He was of the view that the two officers had been transferred following their refusal to facilitate the government to rig the by-election in Gujranwala. He asked federal government to make amends for the injustice done to these officers by the Punjab government. Raja conceded that he was a toothless minister without any powers. He asked the chief minister to take back from him the ministry of irrigation if he did not want to empower him. He said he was minister for irrigation but he was not consulted at the time of breaching of embankments. He said the tragic incident in Sialkot had exposed tall claims of good governance in Punjab. I would have resigned after the incident, had I been chief executive of the province, Raja remarked. He further alleged that Punjab governments aid for the flood victims was confined only to photo sessions, TV channels and helicopters, as, according to him, only one per cent relief work was actually being carried out in the affected areas. The minister accused that Punjab CM ordered digging out of an illegal canal in Chaniot district to irrigate 25 acres of sugar cane crop meant for Ramzan Sugar Mill owned by Mr Shahbaz Sharif. The canal became a river after the advent of flood which swept away 25 villages, he alleged. He also demanded holding of impartial inquiry to probe into breaching of embankments in PPP dominated constituencies.