On 17th January (Wednesday), Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa launched a scathing attack on their I.N.D.I. Alliance partner AAP. He accused the Bhagwant Mann government of practising “dictatorial governance” and went on to claim that one of their leaders looks similar to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
He slammed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann advising him to put up pictures of Hitler in his office. The Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa alleged that AAP’s “dictatorial governance” matches that of the Nazi leader.
Bajwa said, “The first thing I would like to advise them is to pull down the pictures of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from their offices and replace it with Adolf Hitler. And if you carefully see the picture of Hitler, it matches with one of their (AAP) leaders.”
As per reports, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and other party leaders were also present when Bajwa made a Hitler jibe against the AAP leader.
Notably, the remarks came a day after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was released from jail after securing bail in a criminal intimidation case. Khaira was arrested on 4th January in connection with the intimidation case, right after being granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court concerning a 2015 drugs case.
Meanwhile, Bajwa also took to X and slammed the AAP government asserting that it can’t suppress their voice with bullying tactics.
Bajwa tweeted, “Bhagwant Maan you and your government cannot suppress the truth and the voice of the opposition with such bullying. We will fearlessly raise our voice for the solution of the problems of the people of Punjab and against the excesses of the AAP government.”
ਭਗਵੰਤ ਮਾਨ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਅਤੇ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਆਪ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਅਜਿਹੀਆਂ ਧੱਕੇਸ਼ਾਹੀਆ ਨਾਲ ਸੱਚ ਅਤੇ ਵਿਰੋਧੀ ਧਿਰ ਦੀ ਆਵਾਜ਼ ਨੂੰ ਨਹੀਂ ਦਬਾ ਸਕਦੀ। ਅਸੀਂ ਨਿੱਡਰਤਾ ਨਾਲ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਮਸਲਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਹੱਲ ਲਈ ਅਤੇ ਆਪ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਧੀਕੀਆਂ ਖ਼ਿਲਾਫ਼ ਆਵਾਜ਼ ਬੁਲੰਦ ਕਰਦੇ ਰਹਾਂਗੇ।
— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) January 17, 2024
In another tweet, he lambasted the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in the state for failure on reverse migration. He said that each year, scores of Punjabis leave illegally for other countries by paying huge money, and reportedly Punjab incurs a hit of about Rs 70000 crore.
ਤਕਰੀਬਨ 70 ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਕਰੋੜ ਰੁਪਇਆ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦਾ ਹਰ ਸਾਲ ਬਾਹਰਲੇ ਦੇਸ਼ਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ, @BhagwantMann Reverse Migration ਕਿੱਥੇ ਹੈ? pic.twitter.com/TZFBsqUZmP
— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) January 17, 2024
The tweet read, “About 70 thousand crore rupees of Punjab is going abroad every year, @BhagwantMann about Reverse Migration?”
It is important to note that the arch-nemesis turned allies had recently announced that they will jointly contest the Mayor elections in Chandigarh. The annual election for Chandigarh Mayor will take place on 18th January.
The announcement was made by Pawan Bansal from Congress and Raghav Chaddha from AAP’s side.
As part of the deal, AAP will fight for the Mayor’s post while Congress will be contesting for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. AAP’s Kuldeep Kumar Tita will be the joint candidate of AAP-Congress for the Mayor post against BJP’s Manoj Sonkar. Congress’ Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Nirmala Devi will fight for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor respectively. BJP has fielded Kuljeet Sandhu, and Rajinder Sharma for the posts of senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor, respectively.
However, on the day of the announcement, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued notice to the Government of Punjab and its officials on a plea filed by Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu and others. In his plea, Sidhu accused AAP’s Punjab ministers of allowing illegal sand mining and indulging in corruption.
The constant fights between alliance partners AAP and Congress in Punjab
While AAP and Congress have tried to put together a joint front at the national level, there have been constant allegations and counter-allegations between the two I.N.D.I.A. bloc partners at state level.
Punjab Congress leadership has previously denied any possibility of contesting elections with the Kejriwal-led party. On 26th December, it was reported that the majority of Punjab Congress leaders stood against the idea of an alliance with AAP for the General Elections during a meeting of Punjab’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chaired by All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also present at the meeting.
Earlier, On 17th December, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s chief and Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, expressed his desire to contest all thirteen Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and one Lok Sabha seat in Chandigarh in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections.
State units of both parties has stated multiple times that they want to contest Lok Sabha elections alone in Punjab, leaving 0 seats for their supposed alliance partner.
