A day after the Aam Aadmi Party’s several Dalit ministers and MLAs demanded an apology from the senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday accused the State Government of “distorting” his speech, delivered at Ajit newspaper office, while claiming that the state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema leveled “false allegations” against him.
Mincing no words, Bajwa claimed that the Finance Minister was “directed” to level “absurd allegations” against him by the AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
“Kejriwal has been pursuing the Indian National Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and former INC president Rahul Gandhi for seeking support on the ordinance brought by the BJP. I, along with my party colleagues, strongly opposed it. Getting agitated on the same, the AAP levelled such cheap allegations with the sole motive to defame me,” he said.
Bajwa categorically said that he had never uttered a single word against the Dalit, SC, BC, or OBC community. “Rather, I acknowledge that these are the communities that have been supporting the Congress party unconditionally for a long time,” he added.
Lashing out at Cheema, Bajwa questioned has he ever asked AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal about when would he fulfill his pre-poll promise to give a Dalit Deputy CM to Punjab. “Has Cheema ever put his own government in docks for not having a single Dalit advocate in Punjab Advocate-General's office? Even after being 15 months into the government, AAP has failed to appoint the state's SC Commission chairperson. On the contrary, the members of the SC commission have been halved,” he added.
Bajwa said that the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes has issued three notices to the AAP Government over allegations of sexual misconduct against Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, but the Government has yet to take action against the Minister.
On Cheema's demand for apology, Bajwa questioned, “Why should I tender an apology when I have not said anything malicious against any community? It is AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal who has the habit of baselessly maligning people and then begging for forgiveness. He has a record of asking for forgiveness from the leaders including Nitin Gadkari, late Arun Jaitley, and Bikramjit Singh Majithia.”