‘Shameful’: Kejriwal condemns Channi’s remark about people of UP, Bihar
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal slammed Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for his purported appeal to the people to stop people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from coming to the state.
Saying that the statement is “shameful”, Kejriwal claimed that the Punjab Chief Minister calls him a “Kala” (black). “The comments are really shameful. We strongly condemn comments aimed at any individual or any particular community. He also calls me ‘Kala’ (black),” said Kejriwal while addressing a press conference in Mohali.
Punjab Chief Ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann was also present at the press conference. Earlier, during a political rally, Channi had said, “Don’t let UP, Bihar ke bhaiya enter Punjab”. Kejriwal announced that the sitting mayor from Amritsar, Karamjit Singh Rintu, had joined AAP and urged people in Amritsar to vote for them so that they could make efforts to make Amritsar a ‘World Icon City’. “There have been a lot of demands that Amritsar should be made the ‘World Icon City’. Mann and I have talked about this and Rintuji has also been working on this for a long time. We assure you that efforts will be made to ensure that Amritsar is made a ‘World Icon City’,” Kejriwal said.
He assured the businessmen that the party will create a great atmosphere for them to work in Punjab, devoid of any troubles or intimidation from the police. “Earlier, ‘hissa’ (portion) was charged from the businessmen, but we will give them ‘hissedaari’ (participation),” he added. Kejriwal remarked that just like his party ended ‘inspector-raj’ and ‘raid-raj’ in Delhi, it will also eliminate ‘parcha-raj’ in Punjab. “There are a lot of fake parchas on businesmen too. Ransom is collected from them via jo-jo tax and many other things. They are threatened with raids if they do not pay money to officers. We will put an end to all this, old, fake `parchas` against all will be cancelled,” he added.
Mann, the Chief Ministerial candidate in the state, said that once voted to power, the party will take action against an MLA or Minister if they call up people to demand something from them or to threaten them. Kejriwal said that during its tenure of five years, Congress ruined the atmosphere in the state and alleged that the party was in collusion with the accused in incidents of Bargari sacrilege and bomb blasts in Ludhiana and Maur.
Regarding comments made by the opposition at him during their election campaigns, Kejriwal said, “Rahul Gandhi calls me a terrorist. Channi calls me ‘Kala’ (black) and says my clothes are bad. They will all get to know on February 20 whether I am truly a terrorist or ‘kala’ or my clothes are bad”. Notably, Punjab will go to the Assembly polls on February 20 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.