After ‘stuntbaazi’ remark, Punjab ex-CM Channi calls for probe into Poonch terror attack

A day after he triggered a controversy by calling the Poonch terror attack in which an IAF personnel was killed “stuntbaazi” meant to make the BJP win the Lok Sabha elections, former chief minister and Jalandhar Congress candidate Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday demanded a probe into the ambush so that the “real perpetrators” could be brought to book.

Also read: PM Modi concerned over random terror attacks in Poonch-Rajouri sector

The remark evoked sharp reactions from BJP leaders, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Anurag Thakur, who sought an apology from the Congress leadership for insulting soldiers with the deplorable statement.

“We are proud of the jawans who join the armed forces and safeguard the country. My statement referred to the point that why such attacks happened just before the elections. Even before the 2019 general elections, 40 jawans lost their lives in the Pulwama attack but the Union government has not found out who executed the attack till date. The government failed to find those responsible behind it,” he said.

“It is election time once again. Our jawans were attacked once again and one jawan lost his life. I would like to ask the government who are those people who orchestrate such attacks, why are they not brought before everyone, why does intelligence failure take place,” Channi said.

On Sunday, he termed the terror attack an “election stunt” and “orchestrated” by the BJP to bolster its prospects in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Corporal Vikky Pahade was killed and four IAF personnel were injured after terrorists ambushed the convoy at Lassana Top in Surankote tehsil of Poonch district. The attack came days before Poonch goes to the polls on May 25 as part of the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.

Channi said Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, who was in the Congress in the 2019 election, had demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and blamed the BJP for planning such attacks. “Jakhar should clear his stance on why he gave such a statement from the stage at that time. The video of his whole speech is available on social media,” he said.

Reacting to Channi’s statement, Jakhar said he stood by his statement given at the time of the Pulwama attack. “National security is top priority for me . I had never used words like election stunt or said that the BJP orchestrated that attack. My point was that those behind the attack must be exposed,” he said.

He said Channi, who is a member of the CWC, the highest decision-making body of the Congress, has “given a clean chit to terrorists who must have come from across the border. What is compulsion of a former CM to make such absurd statements? “

He said that Channi had “first decimated the Congress in Punjab and will now write the epitaph of the party after the Lok Sabha elections”.