Are you thinking of Afghanistan? Chidambaram on Punjab/C'garh queries
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Aug, 2021 10:57 AM
Panaji, Aug 26 (IANS) Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday asked media persons if they were confusing Punjab with Afghanistan, when asked to comment on the reports of rebellion in the party's ranks in the northern Indian state.
"There is no rebellion in Chhattisgarh, there is no rebellion in Punjab. You are mixing up Afghanistan. There is no rebellion," Chidambaram told reporters at the state Congress headquarters in Panaji.
Chidambaram was addressing a press conference at the fag-end of his two-day visit to the state in the capacity as the All India Congress Committee's senior observer in charge of Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Chidambaram said that "internal matters" within the Congress party should not be construed as rebellion, citing the example of the change of leadership in BJP-led Karnataka, where a sitting chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai.
"These are internal matters which are discussed within the party. Did you describe the Karnataka change of guard as a rebellion?" Chidambaram said.
Calling the reports of alleged snooping on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware as "baseless", the ruling BJP on Monday said there is not a single shred of evidence so far that links either the central government or the party to this controversy.
Congress MPs from both Houses had met on Sunday afternoon at Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa's residence to discuss the issues related to Punjab and sought an appointment with Gandhi.
Apart from reviewing the security arrangements in the national capital, the Delhi Police have also strengthened the security in and around the Red Fort ahead of the Independence Day.
Police said acting on a specific information, Budgam Police along with the Army's 53 RR and 43 BN of the CRPF arrested one local terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Chinese pistol, one magazine, eight live pistol rounds from his possession.
As the Pegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, he termed it a "shocking assault" on India's democratic polity by the Union government, which had compromised the national security with "this blatantly disgraceful act".
The shocking incident happened on Sunday when the lawyer, Satyadev Joshi and his associate Ankit Tandon had gone to survey a land for a client in Dahisar suburb.
