Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is contesting the Ludhiana West bypoll, while reacting to receiving the summons and the SSP’s suspension, on Friday said the entire event was to de-rail his election campaign and an attempt to implicate him in another case at a time when the court has quashed the vigilance case against him.
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Ridiculing the government’s action of suspending the Ludhiana Vigilance SSP, and claiming that the latter had acted on his own, Ashu released a photograph where AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora is seen addressing the officials with the SSP in attendance.
On the allegations that he was in touch with the SSP and got summons issued to himself to gain sympathy, Ashu said, “I am so powerful that I got summons issued to myself. Was the last Police Commissioner, Kuldeep Chahal, also transferred by me, and I also got DC Jatindra Jorwal transferred. Reality is that the AAP is playing a dirty game and making officials scapegoats.”
“As the campaigning for Ludhiana West by-election is gathering pace and AAP is realising that they are losing ground, a message has been sent to all 28 police stations in Ludhiana to dig out if any old complaints are pending against me so that I can be implicated in false cases and harassed,” he said.
The Congress candidate said the government had hoped that once they arrested him others would feel scared and stop campaigning. Instead, he pointed out, it boomeranged on them as there was public anger and outcry. Now the government is trying to save face by making the SSP a scapegoat.
Speaking on the occasion, senior party leader Rana Gurjeet said, “We were anticipating such desperate and frustrated moves from the government and they did it. The AAP is trying to resort to all sorts of intimidating tactics against the Congress.”
Party leader Pargat Singh cautioned the officials to ensure that they do not act on the verbal orders of the AAP leaders. He said that it is a matter of a few months more after which everyone would be held accountable for their deeds.
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