In what could be seen as another round of turf war between Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and State Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjab Advocate General APS Deol on Saturday attacked the PCC president, accusing him of obstructing the functioning of the State Government and his office as well as “spreading misinformation to gain political advantage”.
Deol’s remarks came a day after Sidhu withdrew his resignation as Punjab Congress chief but declared that he will not resume charge till Deol is removed as AG and a panel set up for the appointment of the new director general of police (DGP).
Sidhu had resigned from the post on September 28.
In a statement, Deol said Sidhu’s “repeated utterances seek to derail the earnest efforts of the State Government to ensure justice in the drugs matter and the sacrilege cases”.
“Sidhu is obstructing the functioning of the Government and the office of the advocate general,” he alleged, adding that he was spreading misinformation to gain political advantage over his political colleagues.
“There is a concerted attempt by vested interests to malign the functioning of the Congress party in view of coming elections in Punjab for their selfish political gain by politicking the constitutional office of the Advocate General of Punjab,” Deol added.
Sidhu, the Amritsar East MLA, has been opposing Deol’s appointment as the State AG and Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota’s as DGP. Both Deol and Sahota are considered Channi’s choices. Last month, Sidhu had said the Congress would have “no face” if the AG and DGP were not removed.
Deol had represented former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in cases related to the 2015 sacrilege incidents and police firing on protesters and got blanket bail for him, while Sahota was the head of the special investigation team formed by the previous SAD-BJP Government to probe the sacrilege incidents in which nothing much came out of the investigations.
Deol had replaced Atul Nanda, who had stepped down in September following the resignation of Amarinder Singh as Punjab Chief Minister. Early this week, there were reports that Deol had offered to resign as the AG. However, the senior advocate refuted the reports.
A day before Sidhu had targeted the Chief Minister over alleged inaction in the sacrilege cases. Denying reports of having differences with the Chief Minister, Sidhu has said he spoke to him for all the good that can be done for the State. “There’s nothing personal. I speak to him for the State. I speak to him for all the good that can be done for the State. I have no differences with Channi, not at all. Whatever I do is for Punjab. I stand for Punjab. Punjab is my soul. That’s the goal,” Sidhu had said.
The latest salvo by Deol is understood to be a counter to what Sidhu had said about Channi.