The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has yet again summoned Congress leader and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for questioning in a disproportionate assets (DA) case, even as the Congress’s State leadership has been strongly accusing the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab of “misusing the police and investigation agencies” to “target Congress leaders”.
The AAP came to power in Punjab in March last year, and since then at least 15 key Congress leaders have come under the scanner of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) over DA cases and those related to alleged corruption.
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Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, dismissing charges of “political vendetta”, has been repeatedly saying that the State government has waged a war against corruption, and many leaders who indulged in corrupt practices had been put behind bars. He said even leaders affiliated to AAP are not spared when involved in graft.
Cong. support in services row
AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is touring the country and meeting different political parties to garner support against the BJP-led Centre’s Ordinance that gives the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi the final say over bureaucrats serving in the Delhi Government. The Congress’s backing is crucial for the AAP to defeat the Bill (replacing the Ordinance) in the Rajya Sabha. However, the Congress unit of Punjab has made it clear that “AAP deserved no solidarity because it had unleashed a ruthless witch-hunt against Congress MLAs, leaders and workers in Punjab and made their lives hell by misusing the police and investigation agencies”.
Apart from Mr. Channi, the VB has initiated probes against several Congress leaders including former deputy Chief Minister O.P. Soni; former Ministers Bharat Bhushan Ashu; Sadhu Singh Dharamsot; Vijay Inder Singla; Brahm Mohindra; Sangat Singh Gilzian; Balbir Singh Sidhu; Gurpreet Singh Kangar; and Sham Sunder Arora. Mr. Sidhu, Mr. Arora and Mr. Kangar are now with the BJP.
Mr. Ashu, who was Food Minister in the previous government, was arrested by the VB last year in connection with an alleged foodgrain transportation tenders scam. The VB is also probing his assets. After being in prison for around seven months, Mr. Ashu got bail earlier this year. Former Forest Minister Dharamsot was arrested in June last year in a corruption case and received bail in September. He was arrested again in February this year in a DA case and is still in jail.
Former Industry Minister Arora was arrested in October last year for allegedly offering bribe to a VB officer amid an inquiry in a DA case. In January this year, the VB filed another case against him over alleged irregularities in the transfer of an industrial plot. Mr. Arora, who joined the BJP in June last year is out on interim bail.
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Forest Minister in the Cabinet of Mr. Channi, Mr. Gilzian, is facing a VB probe over illegal felling of trees during his tenure. He has secured an interim bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Former Ministers Sidhu, Mohindra, and Kangar, Mr. Soni, former Congress MLAs Joginder Pal and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon all face DA cases. Mr. Pal was also arrested in June last year in an illegal sand mining case, and later secured bail.
Other key Congress leaders under VB scanner include Vijay Inder Singla, Barindermeet Singh Pahra, Kuldeep Singh Vaid, Madan Lal Jalalpur, and Hardial Kamboj, among others.
Former CM Channi, who was recently questioned by the VB and later summoned to appear before the agency on June 13, accused the AAP of “vendetta politics.” The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had last year arrested Mr. Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh in an illegal sand mining case, after which the DA case began against him.
Requesting anonymity, one of the leaders facing a VB probe said, “The purpose of these investigations is to intimidate Congress leaders. Most are DA cases, which clearly indicates that it is an attempt at political vindictiveness, because the government has found no corruption.”
As the AAP is out to unite Opposition parties against the Centre’s Delhi Ordinance, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring told The Hindu: “The AAP is targeting Congressmen in Punjab with a political vendetta. We have appraised the party’s high command of the situation in Punjab. The final decision (about backing AAP on ordinance) is to be taken by the central leadership.”
