2 days after attacking own party over drug abuse, AAP MLA praises Mann

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, June 10

Two days after Ajay Gupta, AAP MLA from Amritsar Central constituency, accused the Bhagwant Mann-led state government for its failure to eradicate corruption and drug addiction from the state, he today took a U-turn by showering praise upon the Chief Minister for his untiring efforts to fulfil promises during the tenure of his government.

Talking to The Tribune, the MLA said a new video was released today in which he took on Opposition leaders for using the video to serve their political agenda. Gupta, with over 30-year long professional experience in healthcare, vented out his anger during a party meeting held at a private resort here on June 8.

The video of his speech immediately went viral on social media. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and many other prominent Opposition leaders were quick to tweet it.

He said that in his previous video, he had talked about the corruption and drug addiction in the state which were planted and nursed by previous governments. He added that it was an uphill task to curb these malpractices in a short span yet the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government was proceeding on this agenda. He had also raised the matter to evaluate the reasons leading to the defeat of the party in the Lok Sabha elections and added that the party had stormed to power on the promise of ‘badlav’ (change) in the last Assembly election (2022).

A day later (on June 9), he received a phone call from CM Mann who assured that all his suggestions for improving the functioning of the party and government would be carefully heard and discussed in a meeting which would be convened shortly.

Giving clarification of his previous video, he said he neither blamed his party nor government for failure to eradicate corruption and drug addiction from the state. However, he informed that a meeting with the CM was on cards to discuss the matters and restore the respect of party volunteers in the government offices, including police stations.

Volte-face

MLA Ajay Gupta said that that in his video of June 8, he had talked about the corruption and drug addiction in the state which were planted and nursed by previous governments. He added that it was an uphill task to curb these malpractices in a short span yet the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government was proceeding on this agenda.