Punjab AAP MLA Chhina slaps truck driver, says ‘Opposition trying to defame’

Chhina then allegedly slaps the driver in the presence of onlookers. A heated argument subsequently ensues between the MLA and the driver, after which Chhina is seen making phone calls.

Meanwhile, the driver, along with his supporters, sat in protest late Monday.

“She was following my vehicle, and as soon as I stopped and alighted from my truck, she slapped me. Later, she said I was driving recklessly,” he told the local media.

‘Opposition trying to defame me’

Chhina said she had received complaints from people in her constituency that tipper trucks create nuisance during the day.

“I had submitted a complaint regarding the issue to the DC and SDM. Road construction is also under way in the area. A JCB was deployed and the tipper was adding to the chaos,” Chhina said.

“The tipper had hit a bike. I rushed to stop him before he could hit another vehicle. I had only asked him to hand over his vehicle’s keys to me. I did not slap. Then I called the police and handed him over for further action. The tipper was overloaded and it was getting unbalanced. The driver also later apologised to me,” she added.

She also hit out at Opposition parties for “trying to defame me due to the approaching Punjab elections”. “Why would I slap someone if the police are doing their work? Now Opposition parties will adopt all these tactics to defame me due to elections,” she added.

Inspector Jatinder Singh, SHO Daba Police Station, said they issued a challan to the driver for wrong parking and later released him. ‘I was not present on the spot when the argument happened between him and the MLA,” he added.

‘Blatant hooliganism’

The alleged assault on the driver by Chhina has drawn sharp criticism from Opposition leaders, who accused her of misusing her position and taking the law into her own hands.

Former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravneet Singh Bittu posted the video on X.

“The brazen assault on a poor truck driver by AAP MLA Rajinderpal Kaur Chhina- simply over not getting the side on road– is absolute arrogance of power and blatant hooliganism,” Bittu, former Ludhiana MP, said in the post.

“Under the Bhagwant Mann government, elected legislators have turned law unto themselves, openly humiliating hardworking citizens on streets. CM Bhagwant Mann must clarify– will an FIR be registered against his MLA, or will his government actively shield such street bullying?” he asked.

Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia also posted about the alleged assault on the “poor truck driver by AAP MLA Chhina” “In their eyes, the poor have no worth at all,” the former Punjab minister wrote on X.

“The alleged manhandling of a poor truck driver by AAP MLA Rajinderpal Kaur Chhina is deeply shameful and unacceptable. Power cannot be a license to intimidate ordinary citizens,” BJP Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh wrote on X.

“The MLA was even pressing for the FIR against the truck driver but they then sat on protest. How can she take the law into her own hands and slap someone on the road?” Congress’s Ludhiana South in-charge Ishwarjot Singh Cheema asked.

Previous controversies

This is not the first time that Chhina has found herself in the middle of a controversy.

In 2022, she allegedly publicly rebuked IPS officer Jyoti Yadav, who was then posted as an additional commissioner of police in Ludhiana. She allegedly asked Yadav to take her “permission” before conducting anti-drug searches in her constituency. Yadav is now the wife of AAP leader and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains.

In February this year, the Ludhiana police registered an FIR against her daughter-in-law and her parents for alleged ‘Australian PR fraud’ with the legislator’s son.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Ludhiana police registered an FIR based on Chhina’s complaint after she alleged she received international phone calls offering her Rs 5 crore to defect from the AAP to the BJP.