Amarinder lashes out Congress over Maken's appointment
Darpan News Desk IANS, 07 Dec, 2021 12:22 PM
Chandigarh, Dec 7 (IANS) Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress high command for appointing Ajay Maken as the Chairman of the screening committee for shortlisting candidates for the next Vidhan Sabha elections in Punjab.
In a statement here, Amarinder Singh said Maken is the nephew of (late) Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
The Congress could not have nominated a worst person than Maken for the job as while on the one hand the Central government is moving ahead with prosecution of another culprit, Sajjan Kumar, while the Congress is rewarding the Makens and that too in Punjab, thus rubbing salt into Punjabis' wounds.
"The Congress party should have avoided naming someone like Maken, as the name itself draws derision and revulsion in Punjab for the involvement of his late uncle in the anti-Sikh riots where innocent victims were burnt alive to death," the former Chief Minister said.
He said even otherwise Maken was not qualified enough to head the screening committee with veteran leaders like Ambika Soni and Sunil Jakhar being kept under him.
Amarinder Singh said Maken had presided over the two successive defeats of the party in the Delhi assembly elections drawing back to back blank. "With someone who has presided over virtual wiping out of the party in Delhi, now being handed over the job in Punjab, the fate of the party can be anybody's guess," he remarked.
"After ensuring that the Congress got zero seats in two successive elections in Delhi in 2014 and 2019, he has now been dispatched to ensure that same feat is achieved in Punjab as well," Amarinder Singh said, adding this clearly indicates the party has admitted to defeat before the elections by appointing a failed politician, who lost 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, losing even his deposit in the Vidhan Sabha.
Stressing that Rajiv Gandhi was a close friend, Amarinder Singh recalled that he always used ask when the day will come when people will have their own houses to live and India would be free from poverty. He, therefore, thought it apt to launch this scheme on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, said the Chief Minister, adding that the Congress had fighting for the people for the last 130 years.
Sisodia, who is also the nodal minister for Covid management in the national capital, stated that no one can deny that Delhi grappled with an oxygen shortage during the peak of the second wave of the Covid pandemic (April-May) and several people died due to oxygen shortage.
Speaking at the meeting, Sonia Gandhi said, "Monsoon session of Parliament was a complete washout entirely due to the government's obstinate and arrogant unwillingness to discuss and debate urgent issues of public importance."
The Chief Secretary said the 300-bed state of the art hospital will act as a tertiary care centre for the entire northern region, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation's Subject Expert Committee has granted Zydus Cadila's three-dose vaccine emergency use authorisation in India. The vaccine can be administered to people aged 12 and above.
The Punjab Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested former state Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in a fraud case pertaining to the sale of land in 2020 and is likely to be produced in a court on Thursday.
