The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday made it clear that the issue of alleged desecration of the Sikh holy scriptures and the subsequent incident of police firing will be a key electoral issue for it in the coming assembly elections. The party's national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also announced that the party will have a chief ministerial face in the polls and the person will be from the Sikh community.
In a development that also came as an embarrassment for the Capt Amarinder Singh government in the state, former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap, who had headed the Special Investigation Team that probed the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents, and who resigned after the report was quashed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on April 9 this year, on Monday joined the AAP in the presence of Kejriwal at a function in Amritsar.
Pratap said April 9 will be remembered as a “black day” in the history of Punjab, adding it was a result of the culprits colluding with the government. “When the Guru Granth Sahib did not get justice, what is the hope of a common man getting justice?”
The sacrilege issue figures prominently in the complaints that Amarinder's detractors, especially his bete noire Navjot Singh Sidhu, have raised with the party high command. They say there is a huge resentment in the people with regard to the investigation in the matter yielding nothing and remind the party had promised in the previous state election that it would bring to book the people responsible for the police firing. Sidhu has alleged that the chief minister has allowed the Badals, whom he holds responsible for the police firing, go scot-free.
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Kejriwal on Monday said if the AAP comes to power, it will investigate the matter and the people of Punjab will get justice. He took a dig at the Congress, saying members of the ruling party were fighting like cats and dogs at a time when the people were looking to them for help in fighting COVID-19.
In response to a question, he went on to make an announcement that aims at winning over the Sikh community. Asked who will be the chief ministerial face of the party, he said the person would be from the Sikh community.
“Discussions are on... Right now, what I can tell you is that the whole of Punjab will be proud of that person. One thing is decided, the AAP CM face will be from the Sikh community. The chief minister's post in Punjab is the right of the Sikh community,” he said.
Kejriwal, meanwhile, parried a question on whether Sidhu, who has gone public with his rebellion against Amarinder, will be joining the AAP. He said, “Sidhu Sahab is a leader of the Congress. I respect him a lot. We cannot discuss a senior leader like him in a flippant manner.”