Chandigarh, November 6: With a plea challenging non-bailable warrant issued for summoning him before a Fazilka court due to come up for hearing before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday, Punjab’s Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Khaira has been keeping a low profile, claiming that he is “not on the run” but only taking “precautions” as the “government can stoop to any level”.
Khaira stopped taking phone calls on his mobile phone and the same was the case with his PA, Manish, who too has been summoned by the court in a drugs smuggling case. However, Khaira responded to text messages from The Indian Express and called back from unknown mobile numbers. He clarified that, contrary to the rumours being spread by some leaders of AAP, he was not “on the run” from the law. “I am just taking some precautions because the government can stoop to any level,” he said.
When asked if there was any official move within AAP to remove him from the post of Leader of Oppositions, Khaira said that there was no such move and that it was only “rumour mongering”.
“All that these people within the party are doing is that they are spreading canards in the media. They should come forth and say whatever they have to say on the record. However, they are using their proxies to make all the noise,” he said. Efforts were made to get the views of the state co-president, Aman Arora, on Khaira’s comments but he did not take the phone call.
“I am very sad that some people of my own party are making comments on the summons issued to me and are playing into the hands of Congress and SAD-BJP combine,” Khaira said. He added that his plea challenging the summons will come up for hearing in the High Court on Monday and he was hopeful that the summons would not stand the test of law.
Backing Khaira, Simarjeet Singh Bains, Ludhiana MLA and member of the Lok Insaaf Party — an AAP ally, said: “I want to ask these people that if similar allegations were levelled against Sanjay Singh and Arvind Kejriwal, would they dare to ask their resignation…I want to ask everyone if there is a single leader in AAP of the stature of Khaira who can play the role of Leader of Opposition the way he is doing and by raising the kind of issues that he is…”
Senior AAP leader and Kharar MLA, Kanwar Sandhu, who is in Canada on a private visit, also voiced his angst over infighting within the party. In a Facebook post, Sandhu said,”I have been trying to reach out to all my MLA colleagues of AAP in Punjab for the past two days. Since, I have not been able to speak to each one, I would like to make an open appeal to every one — as a party and individual who believes in transparency, there is no breach of secrecy in doing so. Our Leader of Opposition (LOP), Sukhpal Singh Khaira, has been summoned by a Fazilka court in an old drug case. Since the original case is over, this surely appears odd. But, as the case involves the court, I will not say more than that”.
Sandhu said he has discussed this case with Khaira more than once and he is convinced that he is not involved in any way in the case. “But, let us wait for the courts to give the decision,” he added.
Asking AAP leaders to stick with Khaira in the hour of crisis, Sandhu said: “…at this stage, to demand his resignation is playing into the hands of the government.”
Sourced from The Indian Express
