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Punjab polls: Cong goes all out to defend Channi on nephew’s arrest
Congress terms arrest of Channi’s nephew a political drama, accuses BJP of fielding its ‘election department (ED)’ to carry raids and make arrest
Chandigarh: Hours after his nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to illegal sand mining, the Congress on Friday went all out to defend chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and accused the BJP of “rajnitik nautanki” (political drama) with 15 days to go for the elections in the state.
The central and state leaders, including All India Congress Committee general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and Punjab affairs incharge Harish Chaudhary, targeted the BJP government at the Centre for “revenge politics”. Surjewala accused the party of fielding its election department—ED — to carry raids and make arrests because (Prime Minister) Modi was disappointed over his party’s impending defeat in the state.
“This is not an attack on CM Channi, but on Punjab for supporting the farmers’ agitation. This is also revenge for the call given by the farmers to punish the BJP in the polls,” he said in a statement.
On January 18, the ED had carried out searches at 10 locations, including the premises of Honey and his business partners among others in Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana and Pathankot and seized ₹10 crore and other valuables. The arrest came just two days before former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to name his party’s chief ministerial candidate at a virtual rally in Ludhiana for the February 20 elections, and Channi is being seen as the clear favourite.
Taking a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Surjewala said this is also an attempt to help “chotte Modi” (Delhi chief minister and national convener) Kejriwal’s party through the back door. “The conspiracy of the BJP’s ED will not be able to stop the Congress from returning to power,” he added. In Chandigarh, Harish Chaudhary said that Channi was fighting the Centre for Punjab and he was fully aware of the consequences when he refused to use force against farmers during the Prime Minister’s cancelled visit to the state last month to address a rally. “The history of Punjab tells us that people support those who fight against forces from outside,” he said.
Citing the example of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to question the timing of the ED action and the subsequent arrest, Chaudhary said, “Whenever the BJP is scared, the ED gets into action in state polls, but everyone knows the outcome”. Asked about the recovery of ₹10 crore during the ED raid, he said the chief minister had no connection with it. “The moot question is what was the intention and was it correct,” he said. The Punjab affairs incharge said the Congress leaders were defending the CM because he was being defamed. Asked to comment on Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu’s statement that people at top want a weak CM who can dance to their tunes, he claimed that Sidhu was not talking about the Congress but the BJP.
