Punjab Congress stages dharna inside CM Bhagwant Mann’s residence complex

Chandigarh: Led by Congress state chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, a group of party leaders staged an impromptu dharna inside the complex of the chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence when the latter allegedly refused to meet them, here Thursday.

It is said to be the first time that a dharna was staged inside the CM residence complex by leaders who had been let in through the main gate of the residence.

The Chandigarh police had to take them into preventive custody from inside the CM residence after about two hours of their protest there around noon. They were, however, let off after detention of about five hours from the police station, located nearby.

The Congress leaders claimed that the CM had given them time for the meeting at 10 am, though, he refused to meet them later, hence their sit-in there.

Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Partap Bajwa and several MLAs alleged that they were also insulted in the name of frisking and made to wait for over half an hour before they were told that the CM would not meet them.

Meanwhile, the AAP leaders held that the Congress leaders were detained as they had come without CM’s appointment and they had also started shouting slogans when they were let in.

However, Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders said that the Congress leaders came in support of people who were arrested for corruption was the proof that corruption ran in the party. The AAP leaders also refuted Congress leaders’ claim that they had an appointment with the CM. They also alleged that the Congress leaders crossed the limits of decency to save a former minister who was allegedly involved in corruption.

It may be recalled that the Punjab vigilance bureau had arrested on Tuesday senior Congress leader and former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, 62, and his two aides on charges of taking bribes for transfers, commission for development works and felling of trees, besides various other works. Dharamsot’s successor in the forest ministry, Sangat Singh Gilzian, 69, was also named in the FIR.