‘Crackdown’ on BJP a ploy to help it gain support: Punjab Congress

Punjab: Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Thursday said the “police action” on the BJP’s outreach programme was a ploy by the ruling AAP to help the party gain a foothold in the state, where otherwise the campaign would have gone unnoticed. The state Congress chief made the remarks on a day when several BJP leaders in the state were detained while holding camps to apprise people of welfare schemes of the party-led Central government. The development comes a day after the AAP government ordered action against “unauthorised persons” collecting personal data of people “allegedly on behalf of political parties”. Though the directions did not name any party, the BJP accused the government of “forcibly stopping” its outreach programme.

Reacting to this, Warring accused the ruling AAP and the BJP of working together ahead of the crucial 2027 assembly elections to counter the threat posed to them by the Congress. Terming the alleged crackdown on the BJP’s outreach programme as a “friendly match” between the two parties, he said, “The AAP is trying to support and strengthen the BJP in the hope that it can challenge the Congress.” He alleged that the two parties have the same agenda, which became clear when the AAP government ordered the “brutal removal” of farmers protesting at the state’s border with Haryana demanding assured prices for crops. Waring compared the now-withdrawn land pooling policy to the three farm laws that were repealed by the BJP-led Central government after a year-long protest by farmers.