Impose Prez's rule in Pb: Amarinder after 'lapse' in PM's security
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Jan, 2022 12:47 PM
Chandigarh, Jan 5 (IANS) Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
"This government has lost all the moral and constitutional authority to continue in office as it failed in its constitutional duty to provide security to our Prime Minister," the former Chief Minister said in a statement.
He said, by trying to deflect the issue and claim that it was a spontaneous protest by some people that blocked the Prime Minister's route, the government was trying to defend the "indefensible" and "run away" from its responsibility.
"If the Prime Minister of the country has to cancel all his programmes owing to a grave security breach, what should be the plight of the ordinary person living in Punjab?" Amarinder Singh asked, while asserting that the sooner this government be dismissed "better" it would be for the state and its people.
He said that it was a "deliberate mischief" of the government to disrupt the Prime Minister's programmes in Punjab as he was to start various development projects to the tune of more than Rs 50,000 crore, which would "benefit" the people of the state.
The former Chief Minister "regretted" that this government had "stooped so low" that it "orchestrated" disruption of the rally and "did not" provide proper security to the Prime Minister and he had to cancel his programmes.
"Just because he belongs to the opposition party does not mean that you disrupt his programmes, after all he is the Prime Minister of the entire country," Amarinder Singh told his predecessor Charanjit Channi, while adding, "What happened today was shameful and disgraceful and the government and the Chief Minister cannot escape the responsibility for it".
A swarm of locusts on Wednesday and Thursday devastated crops in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadhra district, which shares borders with Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. The pest has damaged crops in six states, leading to the Centre issuing a locust warning to 16 states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 1,500 crore for the relief and rehabilitation of people affected by Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal and Odisha, and assured the states of more support after conducting separate aerial surveys with chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik on Friday.
US President Donald Trump tweeted that the US would donate ventilators to India in the fight against COVID-19. "We stand with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this pandemic,".
Fugitive liquor lord Vijay Mallya Thursday lost his application to appeal against extradition proceedings in the England Supreme Court, setting off the 28-day “mandatory period” for the 64-year-old businessman to be extradited to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his now non existent Kingfisher Airlines.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 270 billion dollar package to tackle the impact of coronavirus and weeks of lockdown. India would not be controlled by the virus, he said, also announcing "lockdown 4" after May 17 in a "completely different form", with new rules.
Heartfelt messages and prayers pour in for former Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, 87, who had undergone a heart surgery, had agreed to advise Punjab Government on ways to cope with the economic and humanitarian crisis in the wake of the pandemic. He complained of chest pain on Sunday evening and was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. (AIIMS)
