Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar seeks action against two party MPs

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar said, here on Tuesday, he would write to party president Sonia Gandhi for action against the brazen indiscipline of two Rajya Sabha members Pratap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo, who had criticised their own government.

Jakhar condoled the death of several people in the hooch tragedy but said such tragedies didn't give licence to any individual to indulge in indiscipline.

It was time to stem the rot and save the Congress from the petty machinations of the likes of Bajwa and Dullo, who had no shame in biting the hand that fed them, he said.

Jakhar said he would seek strict action against the two MPs who were disgracefully exploiting a tragedy to further their own political ambitions and interests.

Asserting that the actions of Bajwa and Dullo could not be tolerated any longer, the Punjab Congress chief said men like them, who didn't have the courage to face elections, were no asset to the party.

Such members should be shown the door before they could cause any serious damage, said Jakhar.

On Monday, the two MPs had approached the Governor to demand a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Department (ED) into the liquor deaths.

"How many times in all these years did they ask for expediting the CBI probe into the sacrilege cases (which has since been taken over by the Punjab Police) or the ED probe into drugs, launched during the erstwhile SAD-BJP government," he asked.

Stating that Bajwa and Dullo had been engaging in such anti-party activities for some time, Jakhar said their attacks had increased after Amarinder Singh announced his decision to contest the 2022 elections.

Having probably seen the 2022 polls as their last chance to make it big in the corridors of power, the duo saw their hopes shattered and, out of sheer frustration, were knocking at all possible doors to sneak their way to the top echelons of power, he said, citing talk of the two MPs being in touch with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Describing the attack of the two MPs on their own government as a 'copy-paste job' of what happened in Rajasthan in January in the wake of 107 infant deaths. Sachin Pilot had flayed his own government at that time.

Had action been taken against Pilot then, what was happening in Rajasthan could have been avoided, he said.

The Punjab Congress chief said the two MPs were surviving politically due to the largesse of the party high command, which had nominated them to the Rajya Sabha since they had run scared from contesting Assembly or parliamentary elections.