Kerjiwal treats state leaders as second-class citizens, says Ashu

Asserting that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal was treating Punjabi leaders and workers as ‘second class citizens’, Punjab Congress working president and party candidate for the Ludhiana West assembly byelection Bharat Bhushan Ashu said on Monday that his fight was directly against the Delhi leader and nobody else.

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Addressing a series of campaign meetings in the constituency, Ashu said: “My fight is against Kejriwal and for redeeming the honour and dignity of Punjab, Punjabis and the Punjabiyat”.

He said it was the people of the state versus outsiders while pointing out that Kejriwal was the biggest outsider eyeing the Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab.

He said so many leaders in AAP who had gone from the Congress have often been upset over their plight in that party. It was actually those leaders who told him that no matter the rank or position they held in the government or the party, they were treated as second class citizens and they did not have any say anywhere.

Meanwhile, the senior leadership of the Punjab Congress has issued a direct warning to the Ludhiana Commissioner of Police and the district administration to stop functioning at the behest of the ruling AAP or face public and legal accountability.

The Congress leaders alleged selective targeting of Congress workers, planned surveillance and an atmosphere of fear being created in the upcoming bypoll were deeply alarming and unacceptable.

The party has also warned the administration that any interference on the polling day will be met with a mass political and legal response. Congress workers are prepared and determined to defend every single vote and every voter from pressure and fear.