Chandigarh, Nov 26 (IANS) Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday lashed out at Congress secretary in-charge of Punjab, Harish Chaudhary, over his baseless accusations of being hand in glove with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, when he was the Chief Minister.
Amarinder Singh said in a statement here that although he owed no explanation to "an out of job legislator who has been sacked as a minister in Rajasthan for being named as an accused in murder case of Kamlesh Prajapat, in Barmer, and inquiry for which has been handed over to the CBI by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot", he still wanted to set the record straight.
"Had I had any understanding with the Prime Minister or the BJP when I was the Chief Minister, I would not have supported the farmers' agitation and demanded repealing of the agriculture laws and passed law in the Vidhan Sabha against these", Amarinder clarified.
He said as the Chief Minister and Home Minister of Punjab, he was supposed to meet the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister and so were his ministers who would meet their central counterparts.
"Even your new CM has met the PM and the Home Minister, and from your senseless logic then he should also be having an understanding with the BJP and waiting to be sacked", he taunted Chaudhary.
Amarinder Singh said it was for the first time that a party in-charge had made the state as his permanent abode.
"I have worked with 14 party in-charges like Pranab Mukherjee, Mohsina Kidwai, Janaradhan Dwivedi to name a few, and they would rarely interfere, leave aside visiting or settling down in Punjab", he recalled, while pointing out, "a party in-charge is not supposed to settle down in the state he is assigned but to facilitate interaction and feedback to the high command".
But, he added, here is a man, who has been sacked from the government for being named as an accused in a murder case in his home state, and is enjoying "Chief Ministerial power and privileges in Punjab, turning the Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi into a rubber stamp, by dictating terms to him".
He said Chaudhary has even been attending the Cabinet and other meetings of officers, which is illegal and unconstitutional.
The former Chief Minister questioned the legality of his getting a ministerial bungalow in Chandigarh and the entire Punjab Bhavan at his disposal, from where he commands and dictates orders to the Chief Minister, other ministers and the officers.
The police had been conducting raids to arrest Ankit Das who is the nephew of former MP, late Akhilesh Das. A notice had been pasted at his residence residential address in Lucknow.
Channi also accompanied the martyr's nephew and his father to lit the pyre of the braveheart who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty in a gunfight with the terrorists in Poonch sector in Jammu and Kashmir on October 11.
Cyber Police Station Kashmir has busted a KYC fraud gang after it received multiple complaints regarding KYC frauds. The victims were receiving unsolicited calls and SMS, urging them to call on some provided numbers for updating their KYC, a statement by Cyber Police Kashmir said on Wednesday.
Manish Tewari said in a tweet ,"MHA Notification enhancing operational mandate of BSF, 15 to 50 KM's in Punjab, West Bengal & Assam transgresses upon Constitutional Public order & Policing remit of States Half of Punjab will now fall under BSF jurisdiction @CHARANJITCHANNI must oppose it ".
In a statement, Randhawa, who also holds the Home portfolio, said "this illogical decision was absolutely against the spirit of the raising the border guarding forces, which were required to focus on the international border and act as the first line of defence".
The world's largest vaccination drive against Covid-19 is being conducted in India, "and it will be a special occasion to celebrate when we complete administering 100 crore doses of vaccines", said the source.
