Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi hit back at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal for criticizing him over an illegal sand mining case in his constituency after being cleared of allegations linked to the controversy on Saturday. Channi, citing the status report submitted by Deputy Commissioner upon an order from Punjab police chief, accused the Delhi Chief Minister of tying to malign him with false accusations linked to illegal sand mining.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had requested the Punjab Governor to investigate the alleged sand mining case in Mr Channi’s constituency, Chamkaur Sahib, who then forwarded the request to the Punjab Police chief.
“We have been repeatedly saying that in his (Channi) cabinet, there are people who are involved in illegal sand mining and Channi sahab himself is giving patronage to them,” alleged Kejriwal. “Why Channi sahab did not throw them out from the cabinet? Why he kept them in the cabinet,” Kejriwal had asked.
“Arvind Kejriwal is a liar. He tried levelling several allegations against me, but none were true. They complained to the Governor against me, he ordered an inquiry. Truth prevails,” Channi was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
The Punjab CM further said that just like how the British came to loot India, “Kejriwal and his Delhi family such as Raghav Chadha and other outsiders have come to loot Punjab.” But Punjab will show them their place, like it did to Mughals and the British, he asserted.
Bhupinder Singh Honey, Channi’s nephew, has been sent to 14-day judicial custody Friday in connection with the alleged illegal sand mining case.
Punjab is going to polls on February 20 with Channi as Congress’s chief ministerial candidate.
With inputs from News18
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