Chandigarh, November 11
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab on Thursday staged a walkout from the special session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly over the issue of Border Security Force (BSF), accusing Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi of playing an important role in the ‘Punjab deal’. Senior AAP leader and Leader of Opposition, Harpal Singh Cheema asked the Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to tell what deal was struck with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on increasing the jurisdiction of BSF in Punjab from 15 km to 50 km. Why does Channi have such compulsions and weaknesses that he was forced to kneel before the Modi government at the Centre, he questioned.
Meanwhile after the walkout, MLA Aman Arora said that the Chief Minister was seen avoiding his questions in the House. He said that Chief Minister Channi met Amit Shah in Delhi and then tweeted from his Twitter handle, describing the Punjab border as unsafe; stating that drugs and weapons were coming from across the border. Based on this baseless claim, the BSF’s jurisdiction in Punjab was increased from 15 km to 50 km on October 13 by the Modi-led central government. Aman Arora said that when he asked Chief Minister Channi the reason for the tweet from his Twitter handle; he retracted.
Aman Arora further said that Chief Minister Channi should clarify that for what reasons he has done the deal of Punjab through the jurisdiction of BSF with the Modi government at the Centre. He said that Chief Minister Channi should apologize to Punjab and the people for his deal that shook the federal structure of Punjab and put Punjab in danger.
Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora said that Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Congress state president Navjot Singh Sidhu had assured in the all-party meeting that the decision to increase the jurisdiction of BSF in Punjab would be challenged in the Supreme Court; but till now the Channi government of the Congress has not taken any action.
