BJP preparing ground for Guv’s rule in Punjab: Cong

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Sunday alleged that the BJP-led Centre was using the proposed Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill on Chandigarh as a deliberate tactic to engineer confrontation in Punjab and create conditions necessary to impose Governor’s Rule in the state.

He said the amendment seeking to place Chandigarh under Article 240 was not an administrative reform, but a politically motivated attempt to detach Chandigarh from Punjab permanently.

He said Punjabis, who sacrificed land, homes and villages to build Chandigarh after the loss of Lahore, would not tolerate any move that undermined their rightful claim over the city. “The BJP knows that pushing this Bill will trigger widespread protests across Punjab. That is exactly what they want — to provoke Punjab and then use the resulting situation as a pretext to centralise power,” he said.

“This is a classic pattern of the BJP. Manufacture tension, allow protests to escalate and then weaponise the situation to justify Governor’s Rule,” he added.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring rejected the Centre’s clarification about the proposed constitutional amendment. He said the Centre’s clarification was vague as it said it would not bring the Bill in the winter session. “What is the guarantee that it will not bring it in the next session?” he said. “First they started fiddling with the Bhakra Beas Management Board, then Panjab University and now they are trying to hijack our capital city,” he said.

Brahm Mohindra urges CM to call all-party meeting

Senior Congress leader Brahm Mohindra on Sunday urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to call an all-party meeting to pass a resolution against the BJP.

“Though the Home Ministry clairified that no Bill related to Chandigarh is being tabled in the winter session of Parliament, the BJP cannot be relied upon,” said Mohindra.

Sensing the gravity, all parties should join hand and strongly reject any such move by the Centre to deny Punjab its rightful claim on Chandigarh, he said.