NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party leader
Bhagwant Mann today resigned from the post of party's Punjab president following Arvind
Kejriwal's apology to Shiromani Akali Dal leader
Bikram Singh Majithia.
"I am resigning as a president of AAP Punjab... but my fight against drug mafia and all kind of corruption in Punjab will continue as an “Aam Aadmi “of Punjab," he said in a tweet.
Yesterday, Kejriwal in a letter retracted his allegations that former Punjab minister Majithia was involved in drug trade and apologized to him.
Another party leader from Punjab, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, too, expressed his disappointment over Kejriwal's apology letter.
"All of us in Punjab are saddened to learn how Kejriwal
ji
has gone to apologise to Majithia when state govt's STF has submitted in High Court that there is strong clinching evidence against him. AAP MLAs with gather & take stock of the situation,” Khaira said, according to ANI.
In the letter, submitted to the Amritsar court, Kejriwal said, “In the recent past I made certain statements and allegations against you regarding your alleged involvement in drug trade. These statements became a political issue. Now I have learnt that allegations are unfounded. Hence there should be no politics on such issues.”
The letter added, “Because of my allegations made against you at various political rallies, public meetings, TV programs, print, electronic and social media, you filed a defamation case against us...I hereby withdraw all my statements and allegations and apologise for the same. The damage caused to your esteem, the hurt caused to your family, friends, well-wishers, followers and the loss caused to you is regretted.”
Majithia had filed a criminal defamation case on May 20, 2016, against Kejriwal and AAP leaders Sanjay Singh (now a Rajya Sabha MP) and Ashish Khetan for falsely linking him to the drug trade and tarnishing his image. The case is pending in an Amritsar court.
Following his apology, Majithia said he would now withdraw the defamation case.
