Ex-Punjab CM Channi dubs allegations white lie, says Mann targeting him allegations as white lie

Denying chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s charges, his predecessor Charanjit Singh Channi accused him of mentally torturing and targeting him and his family by levelling baseless allegations time and again

Chandigarh : Denying chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s charges, his predecessor Charanjit Singh Channi accused him of mentally torturing and targeting him and his family by levelling baseless allegations time and again.

Denying chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s charges, his predecessor Charanjit Singh Channi accused him of mentally torturing and targeting him and his family by levelling baseless allegations time and again.

The Congress leader said he never told anyone who came to him for a government job to go and meet his nephew. “These allegations are a white lie. All this is being done to malign and insult me. They are also trying to slander the Congress,” he said at a press conference here.

Channi was accompanied by leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and former sports minister Pargat Singh, besides his nephew Jashandeep.

Questioning the lack of consistency in Mann’s allegations, the Congress leader said the CM first insinuated the involvement of his (Channi’s) ‘bhanja’ and then claimed it was ‘bhatija’. “These false allegations are a part of a conspiracy to target us… If they want to put me and my family behind bars, we are ready, he added.

Channi said the cricketer had approached the court regarding his eligibility for the state civil services exam under the sports category, but his claim was not accepted.

Jashandeep, who is the son of Channi’s younger brother and a qualified doctor, said he had never met cricketer Jass Inder Singh.

Pargat, a former Indian hockey captain, said only Olympic, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games medallists were eligible for class one jobs under the sports category. “This boy (cricketer) had appeared for PCS, but he did not qualify under sports category. PPSC, therefore, put him in general category. Subsequently, he went to the court also. The government cannot give this job to him under the present policy,” he said.