Chandigarh
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Dirba MLA and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema, slammed the Congress Party’s Patiala nominee from Patiala Parliamentary constituency and wife of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for sharing stage with a dreaded gangster Randeep Kharoud at a party function.
Cheema said that the ruling Congress Party, like its predecessors – SAD government, was responsible for providing political patronage to hardcore criminals, thus criminalizing politics in the state, stating that latter was responsible for initiating and promoting the cult of criminal activity in the state.
Expressing shock and dismay over the deteriorating law and order situation, Cheema said that dreaded gangsters were having a free run in the state due to the connivance of the political godfathers caring two hoots for the law in place. He expressed surprise over her feigning ignorance about the gangster’s antecedents who was reportedly involved in more than dozens of cases, like robbery, extortion, murders, carjacking and carried a reward for 50, 000 on his head.
The AAP leader asserted that the incident had exposed the government, stating that it was only with the connivance of the government in the saddle and the safety cover being provided by those at the helms of affairs, the criminals were entering into politics. He added that the protective cover being extended to people with criminal backgrounds have spoiled the peace and had taken a toll on peoples’ freedom. He said that the escalation of criminal activity had reached a new high and the people feel unsafe at work places, homes and public spaces, which, he said, was a matter of grave concern.
He said that the law and order machinery had gone for a toss with the hardcore criminals calling the shots in the state in league with their political godfathers. If newspaper reports were to be believed, the situation had assumed alarming proportions, to say the least, Cheema said. People in the state, especially the womenfolk, were being targeted as there was no law worth the name, Cheema said.
Cheema demanded that Captain Amarinder Singh, who also holds the Home portfolio, should tender his resignation, for he had not been able to maintain the law and order situation in the state, thereby instilling a semblance of the lost faith in the crippling law and order machinery.
