Key cong leaders under lens after regime change in punjab

Key cong leaders under lens after regime change in punjab

As Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tours the country meeting and securing support from Opposition leaders against the BJP-led Centre’s ordinance on bureaucrats, Congress has been the major holdout.

‘No solidarity’

The principal Opposition party’s backing is crucial for AAP to defeat the Bill (replacing the ordinance) in the Rajya Sabha. As the Congress central leadership mulls over the issue, the Punjab unit has made clear its objection: AAP deserved no solidarity because it has “unleashed a ruthless witch-hunt against the Congress MLAs, leaders and workers in Punjab and made their lives hell by misusing the police and investigative agencies”.

In the 15 months since AAP swept to power in Punjab in March 2022, at least 15 key leaders, including a former Chief Minister, former Deputy Chief Minister, Ministers and MLAs from the previous Congress government, have come under the Vigilance Bureau scanner for alleged disproportionate assets and corruption.

‘Misusing police’

The long list has prompted the Congress’s State leadership to cry foul and accuse the present dispensation of misusing the police and investigative agencies to target the party’s leaders. Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi has pointedly accused AAP of “indulging in vendetta politics”.

In the latest instance, Mr. Channi himself has yet again been summoned by the Vigilance Bureau for questioning in an alleged disproportionate assets case on June 13. Last year, the Enforcement Directorate had arrested his nephew Bhupinder Singh in an illegal sand mining case as well.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, however, has been repeatedly saying that the State government has waged a war against corruption and even AAP leaders found indulging in graft haven’t been spared.

Since the regime change in Punjab, Congress leaders against whom the Vigilance Bureau has initiated investigations include Mr. Channi, former Deputy CM O.P. Soni, former Cabinet Ministers Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Vijay Inder Singla, Brahm Mohindra, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, and Sunder Sham Arora. Mr. Sidhu, Mr. Arora and Mr. Kangar are now in the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Cases filed

Mr. Ashu, Food Minister in the previous government, was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau last year in an alleged corruption case relating to grain transportation tenders during his term. The Vigilance Bureau is also probing his assets. He secured bail in March after being in prison for around seven months.

Mr. Dharamsot, former Forest Minister, was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in June last year for his alleged involvement in organised corruption. He got bail in September but was arrested again in February this year for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He is still in jail.

Mr. Arora, former Industry Minister, was arrested in October last year for allegedly offering bribe to a Vigilance officer for a clean chit in inquiries registered against him including over disproportionate assets. In January this year, the Vigilance Bureau filed another corruption case against him over alleged irregularities in the transfer of an industrial plot. He is currently out on interim bail. Mr. Sidhu and Mr. Kangar also face disproportionate assets probes.

Mr. Gilzian, Forest Minister in the Channi Cabinet, was booked by the Vigilance Bureau in an alleged corruption case related to illegal felling of trees during his tenure and has secured interim bail.

Most other leaders, including Mr. Mohindra, Mr. Soni and Mr. Singla, face heat over disproportionate assets complaints and cases.

‘Political vendetta’

A Congress leader facing Vigilance Bureau probe said the government’s intention is to intimidate party workers. “Majority of the probes pertain to disproportionate assets, which clearly indicate that it’s an act of political vindictiveness because the government has found nothing on corruption,” the leader said.

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said they have apprised the party leadership in Delhi of the situation in the State. “AAP is pursuing political vendetta against Congressmen. The final decision (about backing AAP on ordinance) is theirs [the central leadership],” he told The Hindu.