Chandigarh, Sep 26 — Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to get all ministerial houses vacated from “illegal occupants.” He also demanded that the government charge penal rent from the occupants, as had been done in previous cases.
Warring criticised Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gayatri Bishnoi for using foul language against Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, saying such abuse was unacceptable and Punjabis would neither forget nor forgive it. He held Mann responsible, alleging that the Chief Minister had surrendered before his Delhi bosses and was acting as a mute spectator.
“Who has allowed and authorised such people to occupy the ministerial houses, while the ministers in whose names these houses have been allotted are forced to stay outside?” Warring asked.
He referred to the allotment of a house in Chandigarh to then AAP MP Raghav Chadha, who has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Warring also alleged misuse of Punjab Police personnel and vehicles during Chadha’s wedding in Udaipur, claiming public money was squandered.
He further said Chadha had been allotted a palatial house in Chandigarh and an entire floor in Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi, exclusively for his use. Warring alleged that ministerial suites were allotted to personal assistants of AAP leaders. At the same time, other rooms in Punjab Bhawan were given to AAP workers from different states during campaigning in Delhi.
The Congress leader questioned under what rules Gayatri Bishnoi and her parents had been allotted a ministerial house in Chandigarh. “Even if this has been allotted for the treatment of her father, how many people from Punjab who come for treatment to Chandigarh are allotted such houses?” he asked.
Directing his criticism at CM Mann, Warring said, “Did the people of Punjab elect you for this, that Punjab’s ministers are not allowed to stay in their allotted houses and outsiders are allowed to occupy them?”
He added that Kapurthala House and Nabha House in New Delhi, as well as Circuit Houses, were being misused. “This is not misuse, but complete abuse, and this has never happened before in Punjab,” Warring remarked.