Few AAP leaders term Khaira's arrest 'ill-timed'

The way in which Khaira was arrested after he criticised AAP MP Raghav Chadha's wedding and the impact he made with a live Facebook video has not gone down well with few AAP leaders, who have termed it as ill-timed. An AAP leader on condition of anonymity said Khair exploited the event and AAP made him a hero. Making the same stance, another leader said the situation was not handled properly. There are also concerns over the proposed alliance between the AAP and the Congress in Punjab. Congress' support to AAP MP Sanjay Singh when he was suspended in Rajya Sabha, Dr Manmohan Singh attending the session on a wheelchair and their support towards Raghav Chadha over the forged signature controversy aggravate AAP leaders' concern.

Some AAP leaders support Khaira's arrest

Meanwhile, some others expect Congress high command to be not bothered over the arrest. Pressing upon Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's campaign against drug mafia in the state, party chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the new SIT has found enough evidence against Khaira and added there is no political vendetta behind it.

Congress accuses AAP of vendetta politics

Congress has expressed its strong displeasure to the AAP leadership with a dig that they should not be employing "the BJP's tool" of vendetta politics against each other. Congress leaders reiterate the support they extended to AAP during the vote against the Delhi Services Bill in Rajya Sabha and other recent instances mentioned earlier. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sternly said if someone is unjust to us, we are not the kind who will bear it quietly. A delegation of Punjab Congress members led by state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of Opposition Pratap Singh Bajwa submiited a memorandum to the Punjab Governor on the day of Khaira's arrest. Bajwa slammed the AAP government of "unleashing a political witch hunt" and termed the turn of events in Punjab ass "jungle raaj".

SAD, Akali Dal, BJP criticise the arrest

Other Opposition parties in Punjab also came to the fore criticising Khaira's arrest. Taking to Twitter, Shiromani Akali Dal MP Simranjir Singh Mann called it "witch hunt". Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia condemned the arrest while BJP national secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa accused AAP of taking Punjab "to dark times of 80s/90s."

Mann seemed irked by Khaira's criticism last month

Khaira is known for his persistent criticism of the AAP in Punjab, Mann and Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal. Last month, a Mann seemed clearly perturbed over Khaira's criticism and in a furious tone had said, "(There are three to four people who hurl abuse at me early in the morning every day. Their blood has turned black in the process and their complexion is also getting black).”

Khaira, the staunch critic of AAP

Last week, the arrested MLA had criticised Raghav Chadha's "pompous" and "extravagant, lavish" wedding". Joining Governor Purohit, he criticised increase in the State's debt and AAP's silence amid India-Canada diplomatic row. It was Khaira who led to the restructuring of AAP in Punjab in 2018 after he was removed from Leader of Opposition's post. He had represented the party in Assembly from Bholath then. At that time, Khaira used to lash out at the AAP leadership calling them as "fake revolutionaries". Khaira, who was earlier in the AAP, said leaders in the party such as CM Mann, Cabinet minister Aman Arora, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhawan and MLA Baljinder Kaur, had earlier termed the same FIR in which he had been arrested “false”. The Bholath legislator also hit out at the BJP, accusing it of deploying the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case against him on the basis of the FIR, “as I used to fight UAPA cases and participate in the farm agitation”.

Thursday's arrest and Khaira's Facebook live

Following a raid at his Chandigarh residence around 6 am, Khaira was arrested by Punjab police on Thursday morning. He has been sent to police custody for two days. During the raid, the MLA swiftly went live on Facebook showing the police team. The video showed him arguing with the cops and demanding them to show arrest warrant, their identity cards. When a police officer said he was being arrested over the NDPS Act case, Khaira responded that the Supreme Court had quashed the case.

Khaira's rise from being a Panchayat member

Khaira began his political career as a Panchayat member of his native Rampur village. Later, he was appointed as Punjab Youth Congress vice president in 1997. The three-time MLA had contensted twice from Congress and once on AAP ticket. He was elected as MLA from Bholath in 2007 representing Congress. Then, in December 2015, he switched to AAP and was elected as MLA from Bholath in 2017. Following the fight with AAP, he formed the Punjab Ekta Party in January 2019, but lost elections in Bathinda in a tough fight between him sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring of Congress, and AAP’s Baljinder Kaur.

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Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s arrest creates stir in Punjab politics | Key developments

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was arrested on Thursday in connection with a 2015 narcotics case.

By: Express Web Desk
New Delhi | Updated: September 30, 2023 08:44 AM IST

1 min read

The drugs case in which Khaira has been arrested was registered in March 2015 at Jalalabad in Fazilka. (File)

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Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s arrest in connection with a 2015 narcotics case has stirred a political row in Punjab with the Congress’s charge of “vendetta politics” on the AAP and mixed responses from the ruling party. Amid irritant in ties between the two parties at the national level, eyes are now on the dynamics within the INDIA bloc.

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