Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann trying to scare Cong nominee: CLP leader Partap Bajwa

With stakes high in the Ludhiana bypoll, Punjab Congress leaders have joined ranks over the party candidate from the Ludhiana (West) constituenccy Bharat Bhushan Ashu being summoned by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in connection with an alleged school land misuse case.

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Earlier top leaders, PPCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and CLP leader Partap Bajwa, had been accused by Ashu of not supporting him when he was booked and arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in the alleged Rs 2,000-crore foodgrain tender scam.

Later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had cancelled the FIRs against Ashu.

Sources in the party said the top leaders, on the instructions of the central leadership, today came in support of Ashu, accusing the AAP of intimidating the Congress leaders.

Bajwa accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of a “calculated attempt to intimidate” the Congress candidate. “It’s clear that the AAP government first tried to use state machinery to scare Ashu into silence,” Bajwa said. “Summons were issued to him by the Vigilance Bureau just weeks before polling — not as part of any genuine investigation, but as a crude, desperate tactic to gain political advantage.” When their intimidation attempt backfired and public backlash intensified, the AAP shifted gears in a bizarre U-turn. In an unbelievable twist, the Vigilance Bureau SSP Jagatpreet Singh — who had issued the summons to Ashu —was suddenly suspended.

According to reports, the Mann government claimed the officer was trying to help Ashu “gain political mileage”. Former minister Vijay Inder Singla said it was a clear indication of desperation and acceptance of defeat in the coming bypoll, which would be the turning point for the resurgence of the Congress, he claimed.

The PPPC chief said the party would will neither forget nor forgive any sins of omission and commission being committed by this government. “The cat is out of the bag, as both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are feeling desperate and frustrated about the imminent fact that they are losing the elections,” he said.

Condemning the summons issued to Ashu, he asked, why did the Vigilance need to issue these in the midst of the campaign and why they could not wait till the elections?

He said Punjab needed comprehensive police reforms to fix accountability and curtail their unbridled powers.