May ‘dislodge’ AAP govt, says Bittu after cases against aides
Union Minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu on Monday warned the police against “blindly following” political orders, saying his party could “dislodge” the AAP government and take action against cops for registering “false cases” against his two aides.
The statement came as the police arrested his two close associates Rajiv Raja and Rajesh Attri.
Raja was booked in an extortion case on Sunday while Attri, arrested on Monday, faces charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act for allegedly making casteist remarks over a phone call with a Patiala resident.
Angry Bittu, in a statement, said, “We will sort this thing out when we assume power in the state. Police officials should remember power changes with elections.”
Bittu said his “close family friends for three generations have been booked
on false and motivated complaints to settle scores with me”.
“Raids have been conducted on the houses of relatives and friends, and some in government service have been transferred,” he said.
The Union Minister also dared Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to arrest him, announcing his intention to go to his official residence in Chandigarh on February 13.
The remarks came amid an increasing attack on the Punjab’s ruling party by the Opposition, which has claimed that AAP may face a revolt in the face of the Assembly poll loss in the national capital.
Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa had claimed that over 30 AAP MLAs are in touch with the Congress, and ready to switch sides.
AAP staring at leadership crisis, says Bajwa
Bajwa also accused the BJP of attempting to engineer a split within AAP.
He alleged that recent remarks by Punjab AAP president Aman Arora, suggesting it was “not necessary for Punjab to have a Sikh chief minister”, hinted at an impending leadership change.
BJP MLA from Rajouri Garden in New Delhi, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, echoed these sentiments, asserting that AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal aims to remove Bhagwant Mann from the CM’s post.
‘Won’t topple AAP govt’
Meanwhile, state BJP president Sunil Jakhar dismissed claims of hatching a plot to dislodge the AAP government. He condemned criminal cases against Bittu’s associates and urged Mann to focus on exposing various mafia operating in the state.
BJP national general Secretary Tarun Chugh said that people of Punjab want to free the state from the “AAP-da” (disaster), a term coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Delhi poll for AAP.
“We have only two MLAs in the state Assembly. How many MLAs can leave AAP to join us? We would rather form a government in Punjab with our own MLAs, duly elected by the people of the state,” said another BJP leader commenting on the accusations.
