Congress leaders starts protest at Punjab CM official residence over law & order situation

|HT|

A group of Punjab Congress leaders on Thursday staged a sit-in at chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s official residence in Chandigarh, saying they wanted to lodge their protest against the law and order situation in the state and the recent arrest of former minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot but weren’t allowed. Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the fact that the Congress leaders came in support of people who looted Punjab was proof that corruption was ingrained in the party. AAP also contested the claim that the Congress leaders had an appointment.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who led the group of Congress leaders, insisted that they had an appointment but the chief minister refused to meet them.

“We were all made to wait outside for 45 minutes or so, and then made to wait in the conference room only to be told that the CM is busy and will meet us at 1pm on Friday. We have decided to sit here till tomorrow,” the Punjab Congress chief said as they sat on a dharna and raised slogans against the AAP government. Leader of Opposition in the assembly (LOP) Partap Singh Bajwa accused the AAP government of insulting the senior party leaders by frisking them. “I have never faced anything like this. They talked of badlav (change). Is this the badlav they promised to usher in?” the LoP said.

The Congress leaders were later taken into custody.

AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha said the Punjab Congress appeared to have become restive as skeletons have started to tumble out of the closet.

On Tuesday, the Punjab vigilance bureau arrested senior Congress leader and former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, 62, and his two aides on charges of taking bribes for transfers, commission for development works and felling of trees and purchase of tree guards, besides providing illegal passage to the mining mafia and colonisers from forest land, and allowing illegal mining on forest land. The vigilance bureau also named Dharamsot’s successor in the forest ministry, Sangat Singh Gilzian, 69, as an accused but he has gone missing. “A farcical theatre of absurdity is on display by Punjab Congress, as they staged a protest in support of misdeeds of their corrupt ministers. Suddenly they all have gone restive as skeletons have started to tumble out of the closet. It seems corruption is in the very DNA of Cong,” Chadha said.

Malvinder Singh Kang, chief spokesperson, Punjab AAP, condemned the protest by the Congress leaders. Kang said the Congress leaders crossed the limits of decency and protocol to save a former minister who looted Punjab.

He also underlined that the chief minister allowed the Congress leaders into his house though they did not have an appointment out of decency and courtesy. “Remember the time when your leaders never met people who came to visit them,” Kanga said, his remarks aimed at the Congress. But Mann still welcomed them inside and served them refreshments but look at their conduct. “This is shameful but is not a surprise to the people of Punjab,” he said.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)