Punjab BJP jumps to Manpreet’s defence, questions FIR’s timing

A day after the vigilance bureau booked former state finance minister and BJP leader Manpreet Badal in a plot allotment case, the saffron party leaders rallied behind him, asking the AAP government to come out with facts in the case.

Questioning the timing of the FIR against Manpreet, state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said: “We are against any sort of corruption but chief minister Bhagwant Mann should come out with facts. The government is on the back foot as the governor has exposed it on ₹50,000-crore loan. So, it has slapped a vigilance case on Manpreet to divert media’s attention.”

Jakhar said if the chief minister has facts of any corruption by anyone, he should put them in public domain. “Has any case of corruption registered by the AAP government reached any logical conclusion? Mann should stop behaving like Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau who also played to gallery to divert attention from the core issues by levelling baseless allegations against India,” added Jakhar.

Party’s national general secretary Manjinder Sirsa termed the case against Manpreet as a political vendetta. “Everyone knows that the CM has personal enmity with Manpreet. The VB case is just an attempt to settle score with Manpreet. This is how the AAP is dealing with its political opponents,” claimed Sirsa.

Many senior BJP leaders apprehend that the Bhagwant Mann government would now go after those ex-Congress leaders who have recently joined the BJP.

“The reason is obvious. As both the AAP and the Congress are almost certain to contest upcoming Lok Sabha polls in alliance, the state government will go soft on Congress leaders and in a bid to showcase its so called crusade against corruption could target ex-Congressmen, especially former ministers, who have recently joined the BJP,” said a state general secretary of the party who did not wish to be named.

Most leaders of the party, it is learnt, are backing Manpreet but they are not ready to come on record to avoid awkward position as the complainant against the former minister is party’s sitting district president and former chief parliamentary secretary Sarup Chand Singla.