Kejri unhurt as mob attacks car in Ludhiana
Tuesday, 01/03/2016
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LUDHIANA: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal came under attack from a mob here on Monday on the last day of his five-day Punjab tour. His Innova was pelted with stones when he was leaving a resort at Hasanpur village in the district after an interaction with local industrialists. The car’s wind screen was damaged, even as Kejriwal escaped unhurt.
A mob protesting against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in Ludhiana on Monday.
The Delhi CM, AAP’s organisational head Durgesh Pathak and party MP Bhagwant Mann were in the car when the attack took place around 12.20pm.
Police registered a case against unidentified assailants under sections 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code.
Earlier, Kejriwal’s convoy managed to enter the venue through the side gate around 10.30am despite the presence of protesters, including victims of 1984 antiSikh riots and members of Hindu organisations. The Sikh agitators accused Kejriwal of siding with Congress leader Jagdish Tytler.
Ludhiana zone AAP coordinator Col CM Lakhanpal alleged that the police had allowed the attackers to reach the area from where the convoy was to leave the venue. He also alleged the involvement of a personal assistant of an Akali MLA.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh on Monday evening, AAP’s Punjab affairs in-charge Sanjay Singh said, “The attackers were trained goons and stationed in the vicinity of the venue where Kejriwal had met industrialists. The attack happened on a new route suggested by the local police... It appears that a rattled Shiromani Akali Dal and specifically Sukhbir Badal orchestrated the murderous attack to teach Kejriwal a lesson.”
Meanwhile, Kejriwal promised to set up an inquiry commission to look into ‘political vendetta’ cases registered by the Badal government, if AAP comes to power in Punjab next year. He also visited the house of Satpal Singh of Bohapur village.
The latter’s sons, Jatinder Singh and Harinder Singh, were shot dead in an allegedly fake encounter in Ludhiana in 2014. In his address to industrialists, Kejriwal said Punjab’s industry was presently engulfed in corruption and he planned to restore its ‘lost glory’. “In the past five days, I have experienced that all sections of people across the state are unhappy, be it farmers, industrialists or the common man,” he said.
SUKHBIR, CAPTAIN CONDEMN INCIDENT
CHAN DIGARH: Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday condemned the incident of stone-pelting on the car of AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and said due action would be taken against the guilty. The deputy CM said he had directed the Ludhiana police to take immediate action.
Sukhbir also directed the state director general of police (DGP) to inquire whether there was any lapse on the part of the security provided to the AAP leader during his Punjab tour.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh lashed out at Kejriwal for “trying to blame Congress workers” for the attack.
“Let me make it categorically clear that the Congress has nothing to do with the attack,” he said in a statement.
Condemning the incident “irrespective of who sponsored it,” Amarinder cautioned the Delhi CM against “linking the Congress with Akalis.”
