GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed his Punjab counterpart Charanjit Singh Channi and the Congress high command had hatched a conspiracy to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 5.
“A bloody conspiracy was hatched to kill the PM on January 5. It was not sudden but pre-planned and sponsored. From the evidence that emerged, it is fully clear the Congress high command and the Punjab CM had conspired to kill the PM,” Sarma told journalists here on Wednesday.
His charges were based, among others, on the purported statements of the local Station House Officer (SHO) and a DSP of the CID of Punjab Police during a "sting operation", he claimed, was carried out by an “established TV channel”.
He said it was clear from the statements of the duo that a conspiracy was hatched to kill Modi on that day.
“The DSP had clearly stated that a group of people would congregate and try to disrupt the PM’s travel which would pose a threat to the PM’s life… He had apprised his SSP of it on January 2,” Sarma said.
On January 5, the CID kept updating the higher-ups. It was also apprised that the protest was being staged by Khalistani supporters and not farmers, the Assam CM said.
“The SHO said he was not tasked to probe the incident. He also said that the protestors were not farmers but radicals and Khalistanis,” Sarma said referring to the sting operation.
“How did the protestors know the PM was travelling by road and how they came together so fast?” he asked.
He said the site of the incident was barely 10 km away from the Pakistan border and within the range of a drone, sniper, or missile. Despite all these, the Punjab government did nothing for the PM’s protection and on the contrary, hatched a conspiracy, Sarma said.
“It is clear from the statements of the two officers in the sting operation that the conspiracy had come to the knowledge of Punjab police on January 2 and the knowledge of the Punjab CM…
“The Punjab CM said he did not come to receive the PM as he had come in contact with a Covid patient. But the next day, he addressed a press conference. His Chief Secretary and DGP were also missing that day (January 5),” Sarma said.
He said instead of talking to the President, the PM or the Union Home Minister about the breach of Modi’s security, Channi had spoken with the Congress’ central leadership. He said he had taken the Congress high command’s name in the conspiracy based on the various statements given by Congress leaders.
He mentioned statements such as “A bomb was not triggered”, “It is a drama”, “How is the josh?, “There was no stone-pelting” etc.
Sarma said the Punjab CM, in order to save his chair, had tried to score some brownie points from the Congress leadership by conspiring to get the PM attacked.
“Given the calls coming from abroad to not rake up the issue, it appears that the Punjab CM was involved not only in the political conspiracy but also in an international conspiracy by associating with some radical group to kill the PM,” Sarma said.
“If there were no lapses as Channi claimed, why has he started taking actions against the police officials after the matter reached the Supreme Court?” the Assam CM asked.