- Jalandhar District Congress stages protest against the govt before DC office
JALANDHAR: Intensifying Congress party’s agitation against Punjab cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari, Member of Parliament Santokh Singh Chaudhary said Monday that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should immediately file an FIR against him and dismiss him from the cabinet. He was speaking at a demonstration organised by Jalandhar District Congress Committee in front of the district administration complex here in the city.
Addressing a huge gathering of party supporters at PUDA ground, MP Chaudhary said the audio clip of Fauja Singh Sarari had been in public domain for about a month but CM Mann had taken no action against the corrupt minister. He said everything was clear in the clip how the Food Processing Minister and his OSD were planning to extort money from contractors, but despite clear evidence and AAP government’s tall claims of honesty and transparency, Sarari had not been sacked from the cabinet.
MP Chaudhary said that within only seven months of Mann government, the corruption had broken all records. He demanded that the charges against the corrupt minister should be investigated thoroughly and CM Mann should dismiss him from the council of ministers pending an enquiry.
Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary said that during the last Vidhan Sabha session, the Sarari case was raised on the floor of the House by all the Congress MLAs and a reply was sought from CM Mann, but instead of taking any exemplary action, he chose to stay silent on the matter. He said the Aam Aadmi Party leadership was only interested in ensuring political gains and for that, they earlier sacked former minister Vijay Singla in view of Sangrur Lok Sabha by election, but now they did not want to take any step against Sarari as the case exposed their bogus claims of running an honest government.
MLA Chaudhary said the people had already seen through the double standards of Mann government and could not wait any more to teach them a lesson.
After the protest, the Congress leaders submitted a memorandum to Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Jaspreet Singh requesting Punjab Governor to sack Fauja Singh Sarari.
Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh, Jalandhar North MLA Bawa Henry, Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, Adampur MLA Sukhwinder Kotli, former MLAs Rajinder Beri, Chaudhary Surinder Singh and Sushil Rinku, Navjot Dahiya, Jalandhar District Congress (Urban) president Balraj Thakur, Jalandhar District Congress (Rural) Darshan Singh Tahli, various Block Congress presidents, municipal councillors, sarpanches and panches were among those present on the occasion.