Punjab Congress chief and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said on Sunday the former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu was the “latest victim” of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s government at the Centre to target their political rivals.
He added that the action of central agencies, such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Income Tax department, has continued across the country.
Warring’s statement comes three days after Ashu was arrested by the ED in the alleged foodgrain transportation scam. Warring said the Congress was standing strong with Ashu.
MP Warring was in Ludhiana to attend the state executive meeting of the Punjab Youth Congress.
Talking to the media on the sidelines of the meeting, the Ludhiana MP said, “Injustice has been done to Ashu. He had already spent seven months in jail in the case after he was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau (VB). Now, the ED has taken cognisance of the matter and initiated a parallel investigation. They (ED) had summoned Ashu for the first time to appear for the investigation and arrested him,” said Warring.
Replying to a query about the “tussle” between the Centre and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann over not allowing the latter to go to Paris, Warring said that the CM or Centre could clear the picture as statements of Mann were “dicey”. “There is a huge difference between his (Mann’s) actions and words,” Warring said.
{{/usCountry}}Replying to a query about the “tussle” between the Centre and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann over not allowing the latter to go to Paris, Warring said that the CM or Centre could clear the picture as statements of Mann were “dicey”. “There is a huge difference between his (Mann’s) actions and words,” Warring said.
{{/usCountry}}Warring chided the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state for allegedly spending crores on rallies.
He said the AAP had earlier spent hundreds of lakhs from the taxpayers’ money on advertising.
Talking about National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects in Punjab, Warring said that no project has been cancelled. There is some delay in the projects as the authorities are not getting the land for projects. The MP said he will meet the Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari regarding the issue.