Open to talks with Cheema group, says rebel AAP leader Khaira

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 12

Former Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Wednesday said he was open to talks with the other AAP faction, but the dialogue would take place only on the six resolutions that they had passed in the Bathinda convention on August 2. He said if they accepted those, the issue would be resolved.

Addressing a volunteers’ convention at Talwandi Sabo, Khaira launched a scathing attack on Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, accusing him of projecting the recent developments in the party as Mann versus Khaira issue, which wasn’t the case. “I would like to ask Bhagwant where he was when we were fighting against corruption by former minister Rana Gurjit Singh, when drug addicts were dying of overdose everyday and when the farmers were committing suicide. He was the party’s state president, but he didn’t do anything. He instead created hurdles for others,” he alleged.

Khaira also targeted Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur, stating that she had sought his resignation from the post of Leader of Opposition on moral grounds when the Congress government “targeted” him in a drugs case. “I would like to ask her where her morality was when her name figured in the dual vote controversy?” he said.

He said his rivals in the party again targeted him when he made a remark on the Sikh Referendum 2020. He said the other faction was now busy holding rallies across the state, but they would soon realise people were not with them. He said they were fighting a long battle which would last till 2022 Assembly elections.

Khaira also lashed out at the Congress government, stating that sacrilege cases were still being reported in the state. He announced that they would call a meeting of the like-minded parties and individuals after the Zila Parishad polls in the state to chalk out a plan to wage a struggle to seek justice over the issue of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.