Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu today said he would be filing a formal complaint against Congress general secretary and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to investigate the reasons that prompted her to specially send him to meet farmers during their agitation over five years ago where he was brutally assaulted.Punjab Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called Bittu’s claim as a “desperate attempt by the minister to please his masters”.In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Bittu said at that time he had no reason to suspect Priyanka’s intentions in sending him to meet the protesting farmers despite knowing well how much hostile they were towards him. “I will like to get it probed as to what her intention was and whether she wanted to create some big incident as anything could have happened that day. There was desperate attempt by Priyanka to create an anti-BJP feeling among farmers,” said Bittu.The minister pointed out that he along with MLA Kulbir Zira was almost lynched by farmers. He claimed he feared there was “some plan and design to get him harmed so that it turned into a big event”.Replying to the “traitor” remark made by Rahul Gandhi against him, Bittu said the Congress MP had “stooped so low to indulge in such a loose talk that was unbecoming of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha”. He said there were so many leaders and MPs in the Congress who had joined from other parties. “Does Rahul mean all such leaders with him are traitors,” he asked.Punjab Leader of Opposition Bajwa said Bittu dragging Priyanka into the controversy appeared to be a “desperate headline-hunting attempt”. “Years later, Bittu’s memory has made a miraculous recovery, right on cue when his political masters tighten the chokehold. Selective dementia, it seems, follows a convenient calendar. A spent bullet of Punjab politics is now making the loudest noise,” Bajwa wrote on X.Punjab Congress president Warring said it was “childish on Bittu’s part to suggest Priyanka forced him to go to the protest site where he claims he was almost lynched”. “One feels sad for Bittu as to what he is forced to do to be in the good books of his masters,” said Warring.Bittu was in Doraha today to lay the foundation stone for a railway overbridge (ROB) connecting Doraha with Neelon. Delayed for long, the ROB will improve Chandigarh’s connectivity with other parts of the Malwa region.The minister said an exclusive Vande Bharat sleeper train would be started between Delhi and Amritsar via Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh from next winter. He said space had been identified to develop the loco-shed at Ladhowal on the outskirts of Ludhiana. “Setting up of the loco-shed is mandatory for the terminal points of the trains,” he said.
