Union minister Vijay Sampla seen in video saying he got FIRs against BJP men cancelled

The Congress leaders have objected to Sampla’s remarks of influencing the police to cancel the FIRs and are planning to approach the Elections Commission to file a complaint against the BJP leader.

Union minister of state and Hoshiarpur MP Vijay Sampla, who openly expressed his resentment recently over denial of party ticket to him from the constituency, said he got 38 police cases registered against BJP workers cancelled, with the video of the speech doing the rounds on social media.

The BJP dropped Union minister and sitting MP Vijay Sampla from its candidates’ list and replaced him with Som Parkash as the candidate from Hoshiarpur LS seat.(HT File)

Addressing his supporters in Hoshiarpur on April 26 when he returned from Delhi after the BJP announced Phagwara MLA Som Parkash as its nominee from the Lok Sabha seat, Sampla is seen in the video as saying, “Thirty eight FIRs (first information reports) were registered against my supporters, including the BJP circle president Pankaj Chawla and district general secretary Avtar Singh Mand under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 352 (assault or use of criminal force) and other serious offences. But I ensured the FIRs were cancelled as I was in power and God gave me the courage to stand with my supporters.”

He further says, “Was it my fault that I stood with my supporters? All I can say that I have never got any worker of the rival group implicated in police cases.”

In the past, the Sampla group has blamed Som Parkash for framing its supporters in police cases. Also, both Sampla and Som Parkash had openly accused each other’s supporters of working against them.

Moreover, the Sampla group was opposing Parkash’s candidature for the 2017 assembly polls.

Cong slams remark, may move EC

The Congress leaders have objected to Sampla’s remarks of influencing the police to cancel the FIRs and are planning to approach the Elections Commission to file a complaint against the BJP leader.

The party’s Hoshiarpur candidate Raj Kumar Chabbewal said he has asked the former minister and senior Congress leader Joginder Singh Mann to raise the issue.

Mann, who lost to Parkash in the assembly polls, said, “It is true that Parkash got implicated the Sampla group leaders in fake cases. But we will file a complaint against the ECI against Sampla on the basis of the video.”

When contacted, Sampla said, “My statement will be clear after watching the full video.”