The Congress openly accused the AAP of unleashing a "witch-hunt" campaign against its leaders and workers by misusing the police.
Published Oct 02, 2023 | 10:23 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 02, 2023 | 10:23 PM
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann with AAP chief Aravind Kejriwal. (Supplied)
Amid accusations of a political vendetta against its INDIA (Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance) ally Congress in Punjab with the arrest of its MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has said that his party was fighting against drugs and not against any party or leader.
Kejriwal is visiting Punjab, where he addressed a public gathering in Patiala on Monday, 2 October.
During his two-day visit to Patiala, Kejriwal has also appealed to all political parties to support the AAP in its war against drugs. Khaira was arrested by the police for his alleged involvement in a 2015 drug case.
The Congress leaders had called the police action against Khaira a political vendetta.
The Delhi chief minister said, “Three days ago, a very big political person was caught and is facing accusations of drug trafficking. All the parties are targeting Bhagwant Mann, asking why he did it. I want to ask whether drug traffickers should be arrested or not.”
He added: “Should drug traffickers be put behind bars or not? I want to tell all these parties that we do not fight against any party. Our fight is not against any leader. We are not against anyone. We are against drugs.”
Highlighting the rampant menace of drugs, Kejriwal said that drug trafficking in the state would not be tolerated at any cost. He also appealed to all the political parties to unite on the issue.
Kejriwal also recalled how Punjab was earlier notorious for the rampant drug addiction among its youths. Many movies were also made on the issue, he said.
Later, he applauded Bhagwant Mann for his government’s work to curb the drug menace in the state.
While Kejriwal tried to justify the arrest, his reasons failed to resonate with the Congress as the rift between the two is widening, overshadowing any prospects of an alliance in Punjab for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
They openly accused AAP of unleashing a “witch-hunt” campaign against the Congress leaders and workers by misusing the police and investigation agencies.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in Punjab on Monday, but abstained from any political meetings or statements, claiming it was a personal visit to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
However, the leader of the Opposition in Punjab, the Congress’s Partap Singh Bajwa, equated his party’s possible alliance with the AAP in Punjab to “death warrants” for it, which he said he could never sign.
Bajwa also said about the coalition, “No this can’t happen as our ideologies don’t match. I joined the Congress in the year 1978 as district youth president. I became the youth Congress president and eventually state president. I have served as a Cabinet minister and have been a member of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Today, I am the Congress Legislature Party leader, and will not, at the fag end of my career, sign the death warrant of my party.”
He added: “Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and I have met all MLAs and Pradesh Congress Committee members, who are all block presidents, and district presidents, and all have opposed any alliance with AAP.”
He told South First: “What we gathered from our cadre, we have already conveyed to the high command. This alliance will finish the Congress.”
Meanwhile, former party president and senior Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s remark in support of the alliance has put the party’s internal differences on the critical issue in the public domain.
On Sunday, Sidhu, took to X (formerly Twitter) to say, “The INDIA alliance stands like a tall mountain, a storm here and there will not affect its Grandeur !!”
He added, “Any attempt to sabotage and breach this shield to safeguard our democracy will prove futile. Punjab must understand that this is an election to choose India’s Prime Minister and not Punjab’s Chief Minister!!”
The I.N.D.I.A alliance stands like a tall mountain … a storm here and there will not affect its Grandeur !!! Any attempt to sabotage and breach this shield to safeguard our Democracy will prove futile … Punjab must understand that this…
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) October 1, 2023
Last month, Punjab Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Maan clearly stated there would be no alliance of the AAP with the Congress in Punjab.
However, Punjab’s Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had earlier spoken in favour of the alliance, saying that the objective of the INDIA bloc was very big, and small differences must be set aside to achieve it.
Citing healthcare as his government’s top priority, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann along with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, on Monday, 2 October, launched many health projects at a budget of a whopping ₹1,300 crore.
This would include strengthening community health centres (CHC), sub-divisional hospitals (SDHs) and district hospitals. The project is expected to be carried out in a phased manner.
On Monday, the first phase of the project covering 19 district hospitals, six SDHs, and 15 CHCs were launched at an estimated cost of ₹402 crore.
As a part of this project, the government has decided to set up a dedicated patient facilitation centre to assist and guide the patients about the services in the hospitals, distribution of various specialities and others.
The duo, as part of the same, dedicated Mata Kaushalya Hospital at Patiala on Monday, which will cater to the population of around 20 lakh people in and around the historic town of Patiala.
This hospital has 300 beds, and now another 66 beds are being added to this prestigious hospital. The hospital has been strengthened for ₹13.80 crore and is equipped with facilities for ICU, NICU and others. The duo also formally launched the ‘Sehatmand Punjab’ initiative for ₹550 crore.
https://twitter.com/CMOPb/status/1708817387032547640
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday asked Kejriwal to tell Punjabis where the purported ₹50,000 crore investment had been made in the state.
Forget any investment, no infrastructure project had been taken up for execution for the last two years or so, and even social welfare benefits had been discontinued, he claimed.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s statement that Punjab had received an investment of ₹50,000 crore, the SAD president said the AAP chief should substantiate this claim or apologise to Punjabis for lying to them.
