Amarinder warns police against intimidating party workers
Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 Dec, 2021 11:15 AM
Chandigarh, Dec 14 (IANS) Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Amarinder Singh on Tuesday warned Punjab Police officials against intimidating his party workers at the behest of some local Congress leaders.
The former Chief Minister was reacting to reports of Punjab cops stopping PLC workers, who were putting up posters in the Malwa region.
Amarinder Singh said he had received reports that the police officials, "clearly acting at the bidding of local Congress leaders", were threatening to slap false cases against his party workers.
Amarinder Singh expressed surprise that such "mischievous acts" were being allowed by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
"If the present government has the guts, let them take me on politically, instead of using these goons in uniform to do their dirty jobs," he said.
He also asked Channi to "rein in" such elements within the Congress and in the police force, "unless you are deliberately allowing such anarchy to plunge Punjab into political mayhem ahead of the Assembly polls, in which the ruling party is set to be shamefully trounced".
"I know how to deal with such officials who have compromised their integrity to appease their political masters," said Amarinder Singh, adding that if needed, he would not shy from taking the Centre's help to deal with the lawlessness being unleashed by such police personnel.
The former CM asserted that he would do anything needed to ensure that law and order is maintained in the state, which had witnessed "complete peace and political harmony" during his tenure as Chief Minister.
"All such partisan officials who are going around trying to terrorise my party workers should remember that they aren't above the law, and they will have to answer for their acts," warned Amarinder Singh, adding that such draconian acts will not be tolerated at any cost.
The job of the men in uniform is to maintain law and order and not to act in a partisan manner, said the PLC chief, warning the police personnel against becoming tools in the hands of the party in power.
The Channi government should ensure that not just PLC workers, but workers of the BJP or the Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic), with which his party is headed for alliance or seat arrangement, should not be harassed in the state, he added.
Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his government's track record on the 2017 poll promises.
It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.
Scotching speculation to the contrary, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday made it clear he was not joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but had no intention of continuing in the Congress either, which he said was going downhill with senior leaders completely ignored and not given a voice.
