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".
The Prime minister further said that the visit would be an occasion to consolidate relations with our strategic partners - Japan and Australia - and to take forward our collaboration on important global issues. In a departure statement, the Prime Minister said he will be visiting the US from September 22-25 at the invitation of President Joe Biden.
The Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it is an important development in support of reaching the 40 per cent vaccination target in all countries by the end of this year.
The charge made by the BJP functionary comes a day after Kejriwal during his visit to poll-bound Goa on Tuesday, announced 80 per cent reservation in private sector jobs, Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 doles for the unemployed youth and families who have lost employment due to Covid respectively as well as setting up of a Skill university in the state.
Even as he reiterated his intention to counter any move to make Sidhu the state's Chief Minister face, Amarinder Singh said he will pit a strong candidate against him in the 2022 Assembly polls to ensure his defeat.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Goa have been engaged in a war of words and pre-poll announcements over the last few months ahead of the state Assembly polls, which are due in the coastal state in early 2022.
The stolen bicycles recovered were of nearly Rs 4 lakh. Deputy Superintendent of Police Charanjit Singh Virk said accused Neemkanta, who lives in suburban Kansal with his wife and son, used to visit parks in the early morning to steal the cycles.
