Cong MLAs allege DSP threatening councillors ahead of Shahkot MC president’s election

Congress leaders, including Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh on Saturday evening held a protest outside the office of the Shahkot DSP, while alleging that the police was harassing the newly-elected party councillors ahead of the Monday’s election for the Shahkot Municipal Committee (MC) president.

Laddi and Rana took to public address system to convey to the DSP that his alleged threats to frighten the Congress councillors would not work. The Shahkot MC elections were held on December 21 in which nine councillors of the Congress and four of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won. A meeting was called for January 16 to elect the MC president, but it could not be held as Shahkot SDM Shubhi Angra reportedly fell ill.

Laddi said, “The election was to be held at 11 am. At 9.30 am. We got a call from the Executive Officer of the MC that the election has been postponed. Since there was no written message conveyed to us, I along with the nine councillors from my party, reached the MC meeting hall on time. All of us kept waiting till we formally got an email regarding the postponement of the election for the president. After this we came back.”

He said, “Last evening, we got a written communication that the next election date has been fixed for Monday at 2 pm. With just two days to go, the local police started harassing our councillors and began threatening their family members. I chose to take up the matter with the DSP. Rana Gurjeet also joined us and we conveyed it to the DSP and the AAP Shahkot halqa in-charge that their party’s strategy to pressurise councillors won’t work.”

The MLA said he took along his party’s councillors to the DSP’s office and dared him to take action against all of them. “I am just making things simpler for you by bringing all councillors before you. You do not need to run around to locate their houses and frighten them one by one,” he told the DSP on mike.

While addressing the AAP halqa in-charge on the occasion, Rana Gurjeet Singh said, “By trying to take away the Congress councillors through such coercive measures, the AAP and shifted councillors will lose their credibility in the town.”

Finally, both MLAs and councillors went inside the DSP’s office for a discussion with the DSP. Meanwhile, DSP Onkar Brar said, “I have been accused of threatening councillors. I had gone to the house of a newly-elected woman councillor today, who is the wife of a city-based businessman. Her husband has been getting threat calls. It is our duty to keep on checking wellness of the people from time to time. They wrongly construed my visit to his place as an attempt to scare him and his family by relating it with MC elections.”