MLA Pahra, councillors ‘clear’ trash from Improvement Trust ground

Gurdaspur, December 9

Gurdaspur Congress MLA Barindermeet Singh Pahra, councillors, and about two dozen of his supporters claimed that the administration had not cleared the Improvement Trust ground of the garbage piled following the rally of AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann.

AAP had held a ‘Vikas Kranti’ rally on December 2 at the ground to publicise the developmental initiatives the state government was undertaking in Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts.

The MLA and his loyalists held brooms in their hands reached the ground in the afternoon apparently to clean the ground of refuse left behind by people who attended the rally.

Sources claim that it was more of a photo-op than a genuine effort at clearing the ground of garbage piles. Pahra, in his speech, claimed the Deputy Commissioner (DC) was playing a partisan role. “On the one hand the DC refused permission to hold Dasehra festivities while on the other hand he gave permission to Kejriwal and his supporters to hold a rally,” he said.

The detractors of the MLA claimed he was peeved after being conned by the CM on the day the rally was to be held. The CM had called up the MLA and had told him that he (CM) would be inaugurating the new bus stand jointly with the legislator in mid-December. Minutes after Pahra claimed to have received the call, Kejriwal and CM Mann inaugurated the bus stand leaving the MLA fuming and fretting at the turn of events. “He has not forgotten that slight and hence is taking it out on the district administration by resorting to such tactics,” said a senior AAP leader.