Paid job to defame me, Jalandhar MP says of TV sting

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar/Chandigarh, March 19

Hours after a supposed-sting video involving Congress party’s Jalandhar Member of Parliament Santokh Singh Chaudhary, the parliamentarian claimed it was a “paid job” meant to sully his reputation.

He said in a statement to the press: “It is paid job by paid media house run by the propaganda machinery of BJP…Everybody knows the background of the particular channel and how BJP funded it to take political mileage of it, especially during Lok Sabha election. People of my state know of me as well as of my honesty and I don’t need any certification for my honesty from the BJP funded channel”.

A 'sting video' by a TV channel allegedly showed the Jalandhar MP "making a deal for supporting some businessmen or contractors in lieu of arranging elections funds for him”.

Rival Shiromani Akali Dal demanded investigations into the allegations that the Congress “took money for political favours”. Speaking a press conference on Tuesday, SAD president Sukhbir Badal asked for a criminal case to be registered.

He said in a statement: “Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary has sought poll funds from anybody and everybody as investment for future, (to) assure (bribe givers) that the UPA is likely to come to power after the elections and the investors would be offered  favours."

“Such open offers not only encourage people having black money, but also shows how corruption could become rampant should the UPA come to power,” he said, adding that such acts made people think they needed to pay for political favours.  

He claimed the short two years of Congress rule in Punjab was already littered with scams. He was referring to a mining scam that cost former minister Gurjeet Singh Rana his ministry, and another minister, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who has been facing accusations of hobnobbing with the land and builder mafia.