Chandigarh: Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi slammed the ruling Aam Aadmi Party as he appeared before the Vigilance Bureau in connection with a disproportionate assets matter today. He was questioned for several hours by the officials.
Describing the probe as ‘political’ Channi said that the present Punjab Government was indulging in ‘vendetta politics’.
The bureau had initially asked Channi to appear for questioning on April 12. He, however, requested another date to join the investigation, which the bureau allowed, asking him to appear on April 20. Later, the Vigilance Bureau advanced it to Friday.
The bureau has been inquiring into allegations of Channi amassing assets disproportionate to his known source of income. Last month, the bureau had issued a lookout circular against the former chief minister.
Channi rubbished that he had accumulated any disproportionate assets and said: “The probe is totally political. Let them do what they want.” While addressing a press conference before he reached the bureau’s office, Channi launched a scathing attack on the state’s AAP government and said he may be tortured, arrested or even killed, but he is prepared to face it.
Channi said ahead of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-poll, he has raised some issues. He alleged that the AAP government has been rattled by the questions he raised including those relating to Dalits, “on what the chief minister said about Akal Takht Jathedar”, about justice in sacrilege cases and farmers’ issues. “And when someone speaks the truth, the one who is a liar feels the pinch — that is what has happened with the AAP government,” he alleged.
The former chief minister was flanked by senior party leaders, including the Congress’ Punjab unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Harish Chaudhary and Partap Singh Bajwa. Channi thanked the Congress leadership for standing behind him. He said he will go to the VB office alone and added he does not fear arrest.
He said that he has been summoned on a public holiday when offices are shut. For torturing Channi, the offices have been specially opened and the day they have chosen is (the day) of Baisakhi and Dr BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. Asking if this is a democracy, mobocracy or oligarchy he claimed the government wants to keep him away from campaigning for the Congress candidate in next month’s Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-polls.
“Channi challenged Chief Minister Mann to prove his allegations that he owned property worth Rs 170 crore and had 250 acres of land. “Barring my home and an office and one shop, let them show which property I own, I will give it to the government,” said Channi.
Channi returned to India towards the end of last year after spending several months in the US and Canada.
Channi, who was the Congress’s chief ministerial candidate in the 2022 assembly elections, went abroad shortly after his party’s defeat in the polls.
Channi succeeded Amarinder Singh in September 2021 following the latter’s unceremonious exit as chief minister.