Opposition parties slam AAP government in Punjab after 21 died in Amritsar hooch tragedy
CHANDIGARH: The "Yudh Nashian Virudh" (War Against Drugs) campaign by the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government has come under fire from opposition parties after 21 people died in a hooch tragedy Tuesday (May 13).
Calling the campaign mere 'political theatre,' the opposition has demanded a judicial inquiry monitored by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
While holding CM Mann directly responsible for the tragic incident, Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa said, "Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has publicly stated that such a tragedy could not have occurred without political, bureaucratic, or police support. I agree with him. If the liquor mafia is flourishing under his nose, he is either complicit or incompetent. This is not the first incident in the three-year regime of the AAP".
"In March last year, eight people died after consuming illicit liquor in the Dirba assembly segment of Sangrur district. Notably, the Dirba assembly segment is being represented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, and Sangrur is a home district of CM Bhagwant Mann,'' he further stated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
United News of India
24 minutes ago
- United News of India
Bandi Sanjay inaugurates road Works worth Rs 31.12 crore in Karimnagar
Karimnagar, June 7 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar asserted that the Narendra Modi-led Central Government is giving top priority to road construction and infrastructure development across the country. He said that the Karimnagar Parliament constituency is witnessing significant internal road development under the National Employment Guarantee Scheme, with works worth Rs 31.12 crore currently underway. The Union Minister inaugurated a newly constructed internal road in Qazipur village of Kothapalli mandal on Saturday. The road, completed under the Employment Guarantee Scheme, was built for Rs14 lakh. He later laid the foundation stone for a market shed in Asif Nagar, Kothapalli Mandal, which is being taken up with Rs 9.50 lakh from the MP Local Area Development (MPLADS) funds. Speaking at the event, Bandi Sanjay said, 'This year alone, Rs 74 lakh has been allocated for road construction in Kothapalli Mandal. I am pleased to inaugurate this road in Ghazipur, which is part of a broader initiative to enhance rural connectivity under the employment scheme.' Highlighting the Centre's extensive efforts in road infrastructure, he informed that under the Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF), Rs 291 crore has been spent in the Karimnagar Parliamentary segment, resulting in the construction of 1,341 km of roads. Additionally, hundreds of crores have been utilized under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to build roads in remote villages. He noted that nearly Rs 5,000 crore has been spent on National Highway works in Karimnagar Parliament. 'Highway projects between Karimnagar-Warangal and Siddipet-Elkathurthi are progressing rapidly. We are also set to begin construction of the Karimnagar-Jagityala highway very soon,' he added. Referring to the Rajiv Gandhi Highway, he said the Central Government is ready to widen it using National Highway funds. However, he pointed out that the road is currently under a state-level maintenance contract. 'If the state government resolves the issue with the existing contractor and submits proposals, we are prepared to take up the widening project without delay,' he assured. UNI VV BD
NDTV
26 minutes ago
- NDTV
Rahul Gandhi's Interaction With Bihar Woman Goes Viral. The Topic: Marriage
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to Bihar led to an interesting interaction between him and Riya Paswan, also known as 'Pad Girl' on social media. During a Mahila Samwad programme in Gaya, Ms Paswan told Rahul Gandhi that he had inspired her to join politics. She then added that just like him, she will never get married. In a video, shared on X (formerly Twitter), Ms Paswan, who lives in a slum area, said she owed her progress in life to the Shakti Abhiyan, an initiative by the Congress to increase women participation in politics. Ms Paswan explained that politics is the first step to improve different sectors, such as education, but many people do not join the field, especially women. 'We have a very big team in the slum areas. We made this during the Shakti Abhiyan itself. We try to solve the small problems of the people. Now it has become such that if people have any problem, they come to us,' she added. Impressed by her confidence, Rahul Gandhi replied, 'You give good speeches.' An excited Riya Paswan added, 'Like you, I am also thinking of never getting married,' prompting laughter from the audience. She continued, 'I want to become a leader and work for the public. I want to join politics because when I entered the Shakti Abhiyan, I realised what politics actually is.' Riya Paswan gained fame in 2022 when she questioned a bureaucrat, IAS officer Harjot Kaur Bhamra, about providing free sanitary pads. Rahul Gandhi was on a one-day trip to Bihar on June 6, ahead of the Assembly elections, which are expected to be held in November. He criticised the JDU and BJP-led state government during his tour of the poll-bound state. While addressing a gathering in Rajgir's Nalanda, chief minister Nitish Kumar's home district, the Congress leader accused the JDU-BJP alliance of turning Bihar from the 'land of knowledge' to the country's 'crime capital'.
NDTV
34 minutes ago
- NDTV
"Completely Absurd": Poll Body After Rahul Gandhi's "Match-Fixing" Claim
New Delhi: Issuing a rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi's fresh claims of "match-fixing" in the November 2024 Maharashtra elections, the Election Commission has re-released a document it had issued in April this year and said the Congress leader's allegations are "completely absurd". In an op-ed for The Indian Express on Saturday, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha raised fresh questions about the way the Maharashtra Assembly elections were conducted. The alliance of the Congress, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena had suffered a humiliating defeat in the elections despite doing better than the BJP-led coalition in the Lok Sabha polls a few months before that. The three parties managed to win only 46 of the state's 288 Assembly seats between them while the BJP secured 132 and the factions of the NCP and the Shiv Sena that were allied with it added 98 to the coalition's tally. Mr Gandhi raised questions about what he claimed was the addition of fake voters to the roll, inflated voter turnout, targeted bogus voting, rigging the panel for appointing the Election Commission, and hiding evidence. In a post on X, he also expressed apprehension that the same thing could happen in the Bihar Assembly elections later this year. How to steal an election? Maharashtra assembly elections in 2024 were a blueprint for rigging democracy. My article shows how this happened, step by step: Step 1: Rig the panel for appointing the Election Commission Step 2: Add fake voters to the roll Step 3: Inflate voter… — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 7, 2025 Responding to the charges, the Election Commission pointed out that no serious allegations were made by the party or polling agents appointed by it at the time of voting. "In every polling booth, the voting progressed in front of the polling agents formally appointed by candidates/political parties. Nominated candidates of the INC (Indian National Congress) or their authorised agents have not raised any substantiated allegations with regard to any kind of abnormal voting at the time of scrutiny before the Returning Officer (RO) and the Election Observers on the next day," the Election Commission said. It also said no party had filed a substantial number of appeals against the addition of voters to the rolls, making it clear there was no grievance. "After the finalisation of these Electoral Rolls during Maharashtra elections, as against 9,77,90,752 Electors, only a total of 89 appeals were filed before the 1st appellate authority (DM) and only 1 appeal was filed before the 2nd appellate authority (CEO). Therefore, it is amply clear that there was no grievance of INC or any other political parties before the conduct of the Maharashtra Assembly Elections in 2024," it said. 'Facts Ignored' Rapping the party for making unsubstantiated allegations and ignoring facts, it added, "Booth Level Agents were also appointed by all Political Parties, including 27,099 by INC. Therefore, these unsubstantiated allegations raised against the Electoral Rolls of Maharashtra are affront to the rule of law. The Election Commission had brought out all these facts in its reply to INC on 24th December 2024 itself which is available on ECI's website. It appears that all these facts are completely being ignored while raising such issues again and again." An Election Commission source said, "More than 1 lakh booth-level officers of Maharashtra are still waiting for such wild allegations to be converted into at least a single real appeal in front of District Magistrates as per Section 24 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act 1950." The commission emphasised that Indian elections are held as per the law, and their scale and accuracy are praised around the world. "Any misinformation being spread, by anyone, is not only a sign of disrespect towards law, but also brings disrepute to the thousands of representatives appointed by their own political party and demotivates lakhs of election staff who work untiringly and transparently during elections. After any unfavourable verdict by the voters, trying to defame the Election Commission by saying that it is compromised, is completely absurd," it said.
