Ludhiana West bypoll: Punjab BJP chief Jakhar slams CM Mann 

Launching a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar on Friday questioned Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s commitment to fighting corruption and drug abuse in the state.

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Jakhar said while the Chief Minister repeatedly claims to eradicate corruption and drugs, nothing concrete is being done on the ground.

“You claimed to have files of all the corrupt leaders and asked others to look you in the eye. Yet, no action has been taken against a single one. Why is only a select group like tehsildars being targeted? If you truly have evidence, take action, start from your own house,” he said referring to Mann’s earlier statements.

Jakhar, who was talking to reporters here, urged Ludhiana West voters to “vote wisely” in the bypoll.

“The people are being fooled and Punjab is paying the price,” he said.

The bypoll to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab will take place on June 19 and the counting will be held on June 23.

The Ludhiana West Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

Earlier on Tuesday, Jakhar had demanded a probe by the Income Tax (IT) department into the income of the state’s political leaders to ascertain how much assets they possess now and how much they had before joining politics.

The BJP leader was then replying to a query on a statement made by state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, seeking a dope test of the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders in the state.

“Before conducting the dope test, I request that the Income Tax department be allowed to conduct an ‘income trail test’ of the state’s political leaders,” said Jakhar, adding that he never took any money from any drug seller.

The BJP has fielded Jiwan Gupta for the bypoll, while Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora is the AAP’s candidate.

The Congress has fielded former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who was an MLA twice from this seat in 2012 and 2017.

Ashu was defeated by AAP’s Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.

The SAD has nominated Parupkar Singh Ghuman, a lawyer, for the bypoll.