New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) The Congress on Tuesday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party had let loose anarchy in Punjab and had surrendered to the gangsters, while failing to curb the problem of drugs.
The party also demanded the resignation of the state Finance Minister Harpal Cheema for having been named by a Dalit in his dying declaration that he was responsible for his death.
Addressing the media here, Congress Legislative Party leader in the Punjab assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, said AAP had already started applying the ‘saam, daam, dhand, bed’ theory of its leader Manish Sisodia to win elections by hook or by crook. But he asserted that no matter what AAP does, it will never be able to win elections again in Punjab, as it was for the first and last time that it could win in 2022.
Bajwa also took a dig at the ‘Yudh Nashya Virudh’ campaign of AAP saying, when it could not reform its own Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to give up drinking, how can it claim success against drugs. He pointed out that Mann had even gone inside the Punjab Assembly in an inebriated condition and had refused to take the alcohol test.
Referring to AAP inducting dreaded gangster Gurpreet Sekhon into the party, he said Sekhon was facing charges in 47 criminal cases, including the infamous Nabha Jailbreak that took place in November 2016 and several murders. Bajwa said he had been convicted and sentenced to 10 years jail term for the jailbreak, but his sentence had only been suspended by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He said AAP was planning to field him from the Zira Assembly segment, from where it already has a sitting MLA.
Bajwa also referred to AAP’s links with another dreaded gangster, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who, though imprisoned in an Assam jail, was till calling shots in Punjab. He wondered how he was able to make phone calls to people from a jail in a BJP-ruled state.
The Congress leader noted that the AAP-criminal nexus is being replayed. He said the gangster culture and drug addiction are the two existential threats Punjab was facing. “While on drugs, AAP has failed completely; it has not only surrendered before the gangsters, but is now providing them with a political platform, ” Bajwa added.