Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had used its proxy, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), to divert public attention from the suicide of Gulzar Singh, which he alleged was abetted by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema.Warring also questioned the credentials of the CJP for praising the failed education system in Punjab, which, he said, had completely collapsed under the AAP government.The PCC president noted that it was no secret that the CJP was a proxy of the AAP and was subtly and openly pursuing the AAP’s agenda.“When the AAP government in Punjab was under tremendous pressure to dismiss its Finance Minister Harpal Cheema for allegedly abetting the suicide of Dalit man Gulzar Singh, it brought in CJP activists for the so-called audit of Punjab schools,” he said, adding that this was done deliberately to shift the focus from Gulzar Singh’s suicide to the sorry state of education.Otherwise, he remarked, the AAP knew very well that the CJP’s praise for its failed education system would boomerang. But it still went ahead in the hope that it could push Gulzar Singh’s suicide into the background. “But we will not let that happen. Cheema has to resign and go to jail, and we will ensure that,” he asserted.He said the shortage of teaching and administrative staff was not confined to ordinary government schools but was also visible in the government’s flagship Schools of Eminence programme.He said the Schools of Eminence in the state were facing more than 140 staff vacancies, raising questions about the government’s ability to provide the quality of education promised under the programme.He said the AAP’s ‘Schools of Eminence’ were actually existing Model Schools that the AAP had merely rechristened.The Punjab Congress chief also cited a decline in enrolment in government schools, saying the number of students studying in them had fallen by around 1.54 lakh, while private schools had registered an increase of approximately 82,000 students.Warring said the shift indicated a growing lack of confidence among parents in government schools and questioned the state government’s claims regarding the transformation of the public education system.He further noted that a verification drive conducted in 2025 had detected around 70,000 fake student entries, which, he claimed, were being used to divert funds meant for schemes such as mid-day meals and scholarships.He said the condition of several government schools remained poor, with inadequate infrastructure, insufficient facilities and a shortage of basic resources affecting the learning environment.