Senior Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa was Tuesday questioned by the police for over 5 hours in reference to an FIR registered towards him over his “50 grenades have reached Punjab” assertion, even because the occasion management closed ranks behind him in a present of energy.
After popping out of the police station, Bajwa termed his questioning as a “sustained interrogation” and stated his focusing on by the state’s AAP authorities was “political vendetta” that can finally result in Congress’ resurgence.
“This act of AAP authorities would be the explanation for resurgence of Congress in Punjab. There was a sustained interrogation and we’ve given befitting reply to every query,” he stated.
Bajwa, the Chief of the Opposition within the Punjab Meeting, additionally stated calling him to the police station for questioning was an insult to the constitutional submit he holds and alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann couldn’t “digest” his expressing concern over the present legislation and order state of affairs within the state.
He additionally addressed Congress leaders and staff who had accompanied him to the police station and had been staging a sit-in there and thanked them for being united of their overwhelming assist to him.
“It’s this very unity, which we have to take away the AAP authorities from energy. There might have been errors made by me or by different occasion staff, however right this moment everybody has come collectively for the sake of our honour,” he stated.
“The Congress has an excellent management. After profitable the elections (2027 Meeting polls) whoever is chosen, we are going to settle for him as our chief. I provide you with my promise,” he added.
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Bajwa has been booked underneath Sections 197(1)(d) (false and deceptive data that endangers the nation’s sovereignty and unity) and 353(2) (false statements supposed to create enmity and hatred or ailing will) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Earlier, Bajwa arrived on the police station at round 2:30 pm accompanied by occasion’s state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, MPs Sukhjinder Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi, MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Pargat Singh, and former MLAs Balbir Sidhu, and Kulbir Singh Zira amongst others.
As solely Bajwa and his counsel had been allowed inside, Congress leaders staged a sit-in outdoors the police station and raised slogans towards Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the AAP authorities, accusing them of misusing the police to focus on opposition leaders.
Through the time that Bajwa was questioned nationwide leaders, together with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Chief of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, remained in contact with the state management.
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Previous to that the state Congress management assembled on the Punjab Congress headquarters in a present of energy the place Bajwa warned CM Mann to be ready for retaliation.
“If I stay alive, then I need to inform you Bhagwant Mann, you be ready,” he stated.
Bajwa stated underneath the parliamentary system, the LoP is taken into account a shadow chief minister. “Will a shadow CM run away? The Punjab Police got here at 8 pm and pasted summons outdoors my home to seem on the police station. I need to ask the CM if his authorities has ever pasted any such summon outdoors the home of a Punjab Police AIG who’s on the run in a medicine case. Your police obtained the interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi completed on a TV channel from inside jail,” he stated.
The senior Congress chief stated that if Mann had any thought of what occurred in Punjab until 1992-93, he would realise the seriousness of the state of affairs.
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“He should not have heard a gunshot in his total life, how would he know what occurred in Punjab and underneath what recent threats Punjab is,” the LoP stated, warning that the state of affairs in state proper now’s “very severe and demanding”.
On Mann taking a swipe at him on hiring attorneys following the registration of an FIR, Bajwa stated it was his democratic proper and requested whether or not AAP leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia got here out of Tihar Jail with none attorneys.
In the meantime, Warring cautioned law enforcement officials, together with the DGP, Mohali SSP and the SHO involved to make sure that they don’t succumb to the political strain of the AAP. He stated, the Congress will bear in mind each officer who has intimidated and persecuted the occasion leaders and staff.
Questioning the motion towards Bajwa, he stated the LoP had expressed concern over the legislation and order state of affairs and he took the details about the bombs from a newspaper report. He additionally shared an in depth checklist of grenade assaults, which had been reported from totally different components of the state and which had been initially dismissed by the police because the tyre bursts and cylinder blasts.
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Replying to AAP’s allegation that Bajwa had hyperlinks with Pakistan, Warring stated the Congress chief’s father was assassinated and he escaped a bomb assault.
Channi stated Mann ought to have proven some grace and referred to as up Bajwa to debate the matter as a substitute of ordering an FIR. He reminded Mann that he was not holding a “stage present” however a accountable place of that of the state’s chief minister. He warned that darkish clouds had been hovering over the horizon of Punjab.
Former Deputy CM Sukhjinder Randhawa stated if Mann was so alert in registering FIRs, why he had not ordered any inquiry to date within the pro-Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s “revelations that he had financed AAP marketing campaign in 2017 and 2022”.
Randhawa additionally challenged Mann to disclose from the place had these grenades come, which had been lobbed at varied police stations and different locations in Punjab.
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In an interview with a non-public tv channel, Bajwa claimed, “I’ve come to know that fifty bombs have reached Punjab. Of this, 18 have exploded, 32 are but to go off.”
