Attack on Punjab BJP chief: Governor seeks report from chief secretary

A high-level delegation of the state BJP, including former ministers Madan Mohan Mittal and Manoranjan Kalia, on Wednesday called on the governor to immediately look into the incident

Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore on Wednesday asked the chief secretary to submit a report on the recent attack on Bharatiya Janata Party state president Ashwani Sharma in Hoshiarpur.

Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore raised serious concern over the incident and said immediate action should be taken to book the culprits.

In his communiqué to chief secretary Vini Mahajan, the governor raised serious concern over the incident and said immediate action should be taken to book the culprits and proceed against them as per law.

All security arrangements should be made by the state government to ensure the safety and security of Ashwani Sharma and all other leaders across party lines, said Badnore.

A group of unidentified people carrying farmer union flags had damaged Sharma’s vehicle at the Cholang toll plaza on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway on Monday evening, even as the BJP has called it an attack by the Congress government.

A high-level delegation of the state BJP, including former ministers Madan Mohan Mittal and Manoranjan Kalia, on Wednesday called on the governor to immediately look into the incident as well as the “fast deteriorating law and order situation” in Punjab.

The delegation said Congress ministers and legislators have been repeatedly making provocative statements about BJP leaders not to be allowed to enter villages in the state. They alleged that earlier attacks on BJP offices in Amritsar and Ludhiana were also a direct fallout of such statements.