"You cannot be cherry picking on corruption": Congress' Partap Singh Bajwa tells Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann
Mar 07, 2023
Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], March 7 : Senior Congress leader and LoP Partap Singh Bajwa hit out a the AAP government in Punjab saying that the latter cannot be selective and vindictive only against the opposition leaders on allegations of corruption.
On Monday, a heated discussion took place between Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa during the ongoing Budget session of the Punjab State Assembly on Monday over the "misuse" of investigating agencies.
Bajwa drew a comparison between action by central investigation agencies against AAP leaders in Delhi and vigilance action by Punjab's AAP government against opponents.
Bajwa said that he was a strong votary of providing clean, corruption free and transparent governance to the people who vote for political parties to power.
" However you can not be cherry-picking and selective against the opposition leaders. Why AAP's former health minister from Punjab Vijay Singla is still in the party. If he is not good enough to be the cabinet minister what makes him so special to stay put in the AAP," said Bajwa while adding that people of Punjab still did not know if the corruption case against him was being pursued diligently or not.
Bajwa tweeted, "Both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann become victims of vendetta politics in Delhi when it comes to Stayednra Jain Manish Sisodia. You become vindictive in Punjab in the name of abolishing corruption. Why Dr. Vijay Singla, Fauja Singh Sarari and Amit Rattan continue to enjoy the patronage of AAP. Such cherry-picking will not work."
"Moreover, Singla continues to claim to be absolutely honest and says Bhagwant Mann government can not blame him for corruption even of Rs. 1", he added.
In the case of former cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari, it took several months for Bhagwant Mann to drop him out of the cabinet and that too after the huge pressure exerted by the opposition parties, he further said.
"However, Sarari too continues to stay put in the party and has not been arrested for corruption so far. Why is the Bhagwant Mann government so kind to him?", added Bajwa.
In Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal continued to dub former AAP cabinet minister Satyendra Jain as an equivalent of Shaheed Aazam Bhagat Singh. Even though the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked him for corruption and money laundering allegations, he stated.
"Why double standards on Satyendra Jain. When Kejriwal and Mann claimed that Jain was being falsely implicated they wanted everyone to believe so. However when Congress makes a similar charge in Punjab, Bhagwant and the entire AAP leadership get edgy and cagey", said Bajwa.
"Even in the case of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal and Mann wanted every citizen to believe he is innocent and being unnecessarily harassed by the investigative agencies. Such double standards would not work," he further said.
Bajwa said, "if Bhagwant Mann actually wanted to fight corruption why he has failed to get his own party's Rajya Sabha MPs Balbir Singh Seechewal and Ashok Mittal of Lovely Professional University (LPU) investigated by the vigilance bureau who have illegally encroached upon several acres of Panchayat land."