CHANDIGARH: Both Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and AAP Punjab president and MP Bhagwant Mann have launched a scathing attack on the BJP.
While Channi said that the BJP had zeroed in on Capt Amarinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa as new allies to fill the space vacated by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to promote its divisive discourse in Punjab, Mann alleged that a very senior BJP leader had asked him what he would take to join the saffron party.
Channi said, “Punjab is one state that rebutted the anti-people and divisive agenda of the BJP and the charisma of Prime Minister Modi in the 2019 state assembly election.”
Channi said, “The BJP used the Akali Dal in its anti-farmer agenda to implement the three black laws that the secular kisan struggle has forced Modi to repeal. The SAD had aggressively supported these legislations. Now Amarinder will function as the full-time tool of the BJP to implement its nefarious anti-people designs.”
He pointed out that earlier, the Akali Dal functioned as the vehicle of the BJP to facilitate its parent organisation RSS to spread its wings in Punjab.
The RSS went to the extent of distorting even the Sikh history and ideology and the literature brought out by this body about a decade ago is evidence of that agenda. The Akali Dal never protested, the chief minister alleged.
Channi said now Capt Amarinder was all set to perform that malicious role. “Capt Amarinder replacing SAD as BJP ally was no surprise keeping in view his role to help BJP all along,” he added.
Mann alleged that four days ago, a very senior BJP leader had called him and asked him what he would take to join the saffron party. He offered directly to either accept money or designation. He even said that once given a nod, Mann would be appointed as a cabinet minister with a ministry of his own choice.
Mann said, “I am here on a mission, not a commission.” Mann said that he told the BJP leader, “My mission is to make Punjab prosperous, peaceful and developed. I don’t care for offers from the BJP.”