Sukhpal Khaira arrest: Cong and AAP trade barbs, but ‘committed’ to INDIA
Kejriwal says ‘in fight against drugs, nobody will be spared’; Shrinate: ‘hope sane minds in AAP will prevail
4 min read
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, PPCC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring andothers at aprotest rally in Bathinda, Friday. PTI
The gulf between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress may have further deepened in Punjab, especially after the arrest of Oppositions party MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in an eight year old drug trafficking case, but the national leadership of the two parties have asserted their firm commitment to the INDIA bloc.
Condemning Khaira’s arrest Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the party would continue to oppose this kind of “vendetta politics” against the Opposition but asserted it would not affect the INDIA coalition, of which Punjab’s ruling AAP is also a part. On the other hand, AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said his party would adhere to the “alliance dharma in all circumstances.”
“The AAP is committed to the INDIA bloc. It will not part ways from the INDIA in any case. We are committed to following the alliance dharma,” said Kejriwal. He was replying to a query on Khaira’s arrest and its possible fallout on Congress and AAP’s relations.
The AAP leader said that he heard that the Punjab Police have arrested a particular leader in connection with a drug case, but he did not have the details. “I would not like to speak on an individual case or against an individual. I do not know the details of the case. For that you have to talk to Punjab Police”.
He further said: “The Bhagwant Mann government is committed to ending the drug menace as it has ruined an entire generation of the youth. You cannot imagine the scale of drugs, but in the fight against drugs, nobody will be spared, no matter how big or small they might be.”
Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Delhi, Congress’s Shrinate said the Khaira’s arrest was shameful and smacked of vendetta politics.
“Any assault on free speech and any assault on opposition, which smacks of vendetta politics, must and should be denounced. We absolutely denounce the arrest of Khaira Ji. He is not just our MLA but also the head of Kisan Congress and I do appeal that more sane minds in the Aam Aadmi Party will prevail and will not let unbridled Punjab government act out of vendetta like it has been doing,” she said.
She said Khaira’s arrest “is condemnable and shameful” and added the Congress will oppose if there is any politics of vendetta against the opposition. Asked whether it will have an impact on the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, she said, “I don’t think so…nothing will impact the alliance.”
She alleged that the kind of autocracy the Punjab Police is carrying out against the opposition is undemocratic. Khaira, the Bholath MLA, was arrested Thursday morning and produced in a court in Fazilka’s Jalalabad, which remanded in police custody for two days.
Following his arrest, the Congress lashed out at the AAP, with party national president Mallikarjun Kharge saying his party “would not tolerate injustice”. Kejriwal’s and Shrinate’s remarks came even as several Congress leaders, including comprising Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and state party chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring claimed that they were not allowed to meet Khaira in jail.
Khaira was earlier with the AAP and Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha before switching to Congress. While Bajwa and Warring have both been opposing any tie-up with the AAP, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann too has indicated that his party would like to go alone in polls.
Amid the furore, Kejriwal will be visiting Punjab on October 2 to inaugurate a new district level special ward at Mata Kaushalya Hospital in Patiala.
Senior AAP leader and Mandi Board chairman Harchand Singh Barsat said that Kejriwal and Mann will also address a party rally at New Apollo Ground of Patiala.
(With PTI inputs)
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