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₹2-cr bribe allegations: Come clean on charges against nephew, Bhagwant Mann tells Charanjit Channi
The war of words between Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and his predecessor Charanjit Singh Channi intensified with the former on Thursday asking the Congress leader to come clean on allegations that his nephew had sought a bribe of ₹2 crore to give a government job to a player
Chandigarh
The war of words between Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his predecessor Charanjit Singh Channi intensified with the former on Thursday asking the Congress leader to come clean on allegations that his nephew had sought a bribe of ₹2 crore to give a government job to a player.
Mann warned Channi that he was giving him time till 2pm on May 31 to make public all information about his nephew demanding a bribe from a sportsperson in lieu of the job. “If you do not do it by May 31st 2 pm, I will make everything public with photos, name and the meeting place,” the CM tweeted. Channi has dismissed the allegations as “lies”.
Mann’s ultimatum came three days after he, while addressing a gathering in Sangrur, alleged that when Channi was the chief minister, his nephew had demanded ₹2 crore from a cricketer to get him a government job under the sports quota.
The CM said he met a Punjab cricketer in Dharamshala when he was there to watch an Indian Premier League match last week. Mann said the cricketer who plays for the Punjab team told him that he had applied for a government job. The CM said that when Capt Amarinder Singh was the CM, the cricketer was given assurance that he would get the job, but the former got replaced.
Mann said the cricketer and his father then met Channi, who succeeded Amarinder as the CM, and he told them to contact his nephew. “The cricketer told me that he met Channi’s nephew, who assured him that he would get a job but made a demand for “two”. The cricketer took ₹2 lakh to Channi’s nephew who told him that “two” means ₹2 crore,” he claimed, refusing to disclose the player’s name.
Channi denies charges
Denying the charges, Channi hit back at Mann for levelling false allegations against him. He told the CM to take action instead of giving him an ultimatum.
The Congress leader said the CM wanted to put him behind bars by hook or by crook to sully the image of the party. “Every day, you (Mann) level false allegations against me, indulge in a malicious campaign. If you want to arrest me, I am here. The CM does not have to wait till May 31, and if he has any evidence, he should hand it over to the investigation agencies and get a case registered,” he told reporters in Morinda.
Channi said thousands of people came to see him when he was the CM or the technical education minister before that in the Congress government and might have taken photographs with him but he or his nephews never demanded money from anyone for job. He also wondered if it behoved the CM to serve an ultimatum to his predecessor on Twitter.
