Modi's 'life threat' gimmick aimed at toppling govt: Punjab CM
Darpan News Desk IANS, 06 Jan, 2022 02:22 PM
Chandigarh, Jan 6 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'life threat' gimmick was aimed at toppling the democratically elected government in the state.
Addressing a gathering in Tanda in Hoshiarpur district after laying the foundation stone of development work, the Chief Minister said there was no threat to the life of the Prime Minister but he cancelled his programme on Wednesday because of the thin presence of people at the BJP's rally.
He said empty chairs would have greeted the Prime Minister due to which he went back to the national capital, citing the frivolous reason of a security threat.
Channi said the false pretext on which Modi cancelled his visit is a part of a larger conspiracy to defame Punjab and murder democracy in the state on the lines of what was done earlier in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Chief Minister said how can the life of the Prime Minister be threatened if the protestors were more than a kilometre away from him.
He said at the place where Modi's cavalcade stopped not even a slogan was raised, then how was his life threatened.
Channi reminded the Prime Minister that Punjabis have sacrificed their lives for the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country, adding that they can never pose any danger to the life and security of the Prime Minister.
Channi said Modi is a respected leader of the nation but it doesn't behove a leader of his stature to indulge in such cheap theatricals.
He said the thin presence of people at the rally has exposed the poor position of the BJP in the state which is not going down well with its entire leadership.
The police identified the victim as hakeem Satnam Singh who was attacked at his clinic on Thursday in the limits of Faqirabad police station. A police official said that unknown assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire on the victim and managed to escape from the scene, the Dawn news report said.
Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his government's track record on the 2017 poll promises.
It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.
