AAP turns Punjab into rehabilitation centre for Kejriwal's loyalists: BJP

Chandigarh, May 20 (IANS) BJP national General Secretary Tarun Chugh on Tuesday lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for turning Punjab into a rehabilitation centre for Arvind Kejriwal’s loyalists rejected in Delhi.

Reacting to the appointment of three Delhi-based lawyers -- Mohammad Irshad, Prashant Manchanda, and R.V. Sinha -- as Additional Advocate Generals in Punjab, Chugh questioned whether Punjab lacked its own legal talent or whether it had now become a “shelter home” for Kejriwal’s “blue-eyed boys”.

Chugh said: “The way Arvind Kejriwal is installing his personal coterie in top positions in Punjab smacks of backdoor control and political colonisation. From Delhi’s discarded lawyers to tainted politicians, all are now finding safe haven in Punjab’s corridors of power.”

He also questioned how Manish Sisodia, despite holding no constitutional post and being under investigation for corruption, is now enjoying state-sponsored hospitality and resources in Punjab.

“What constitutional or moral authority does Sisodia hold in Punjab? Why is a corruption-tainted man being treated like a state guest?” Chugh asked.

He further added: “This is not governance -- it’s a mockery of Punjab’s dignity. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has reduced himself to a rubber stamp, while Kejriwal remotely governs Punjab like a puppet master.”

Calling it a shameful subversion of federal values, Chugh said the people of Punjab did not vote for Delhi's leftovers to be imposed on them.

“Bhagwant Mann owes answers to Punjabis -- has Punjab been mortgaged to Delhi’s ‘darbaris’?” Chugh remarked.

A day earlier, BJP leader and Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said it was shocking to see yet another Kejriwal tactic of looting Punjab by giving plum posts to his Delhi gang -- the same script he followed in Delhi, where he had lost public trust.

“He’s now using Punjab as his backup playground,” Sirsa wrote on X.

He said Reena Gupta from Delhi was made Punjab’s Pollution Board Chairman.

“Kejriwal ji is doing this to demean the authority and sovereignty of Punjab. What a shameless way of collecting funds for elections by positioning his favourites in authoritative posts!” Sirsa added.

--IANS

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