ED raids exposed Channi govt as ‘suitcase di sarkar’ says Capt Amarinder

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Chandigarh: Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday launched a scathing attack on Charanjit Singh Channi, whose government, he said, had clearly ‘stage-managed’ the blockade that had led to the serious security lapse on the Prime Minister’s route.

Captain Amarinder said he had earlier passed the bridge, where the Prime Minister had been stuck for a long duration, and there was no blockade there. “Clearly, the Channi government

had instructed the police to not remove the farmers who were stopping BJP buses from reaching the spot.”

Describing the incident as a major security lapse which no constitutional head should ever have to face and which could easily have become a threat to the Prime Minister’s life given the proximity to the international border, the former chief minister said instead of taking a defiant stand, Channi should have issued an unequivocal apology. “We are sensitive border state and Pak ISI is always looking to create trouble here,” he pointed out, asserting that “one cannot ever take any chances.”

Dubbing Channi as an unreliable and untrustworthy person who had made transfers and postings an industry in Punjab in the past three months, Captain Amarinder said the incumbent government had been exposed as a ‘suitcase di sarkar’ after the recent ED raids that had unearthed crores of rupees from the chief minister’s kin.

In a social media interaction, the former CM said the Enforcement Directorate seizure from Channi’s kin was a follow-up on the case that the agency had registered after he had ordered an inquiry while he was heading the government. Unfortunately, he said he had been unable to take any serious action against the Congress MLAs who were involved in illegal mining in the state as that would have damaged the party’s interests and Sonia Gandhi had failed to respond to his query on which minister or MLA she wanted him to sack over the issue.

Captain Amarinder regretted having helped Channi resolve the #metoo complaint against him, saying the then minister had fallen on his feet and pledged loyalty to him for life. “Now he has changed colours and is claiming he had been trying to get rid of me for the past two years!,” quipped the PLC leader.