Sidhu also said that BJP neither had vote nor support in Punjab. (File) Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday came in support of his own party government when he said that there was no breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security and the Centre was playing “dirty politics” over the issue and warned BJP against defaming Punjab and Punjabis.
“BJP should stop playing politics. All those seeking President’s rule in Punjab are your parrots like former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh who always parrots security. Has he raised any other issue of the state?” He asked.
Addressing a joint press conference with the national spokesperson of Congress, Alka Lamba, Sidhu said, “If the Home Ministry is accusing Punjab of breach in security, how are they exonerating themselves of this? What were the central security agencies doing? What was the BSF doing that has been handed the jurisdiction of 50 km in the state? Central agencies’ 10,000 personnel are with the PM and they control the security. They direct the Punjab Police also. Why are they not answerable?”
Sidhu insinuated that there was a “design” in Prime Minister taking the road route without informing the state government beforehand, “He knew that 70,000 chairs only had 500 people sitting on them. It would have been unprecedented for a PM to address vacant chairs. When there was no plan that he would go by road, and the plan was changed at the last minute. It is clear that he (PM) wanted to save himself of the humiliation that the empty chairs would have posed.”
He said BJP was not doing it for the first time. “Our farmers were sitting on Delhi borders for a year. They did not get enhancement in MSP despite a promise. And now they are defaming the farmers. They called them terrorists, andolanjeevi. I want to tell them that if farmers stand up against you in protest that does not mean they are violent. I must tell you that your party would not have hoisted as many Tricolours compared to the bodies of martyrs that came back to Punjab covered up in the national flags. We are nationalists. Do not discredit us.”
The PPCC chief said that BJP neither had vote nor support in Punjab, “That is why you are trying to defame Punjab and create disturbance. You are trying to contest election in other states by doing that. Wherever BJP take to such tactics, the real issues take a backseat. Is anyone talking about unemployment?”
He asked, “What does 500 people sitting on 70,000 chairs show? That too in a PM’s rally. They are exposed. Now political people in Punjab know that nobody should join them. It is clear that they have no support in this state.”
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