No political vendetta, law taking its own course: Punjab CM Mann on arrest of Bharat Ashu

PTI, Aug 23, 2022, 4:59 PM IST

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said the law is taking its course after the Congress alleged “political vendetta” following the arrest of party leader and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the alleged food grains transportation tenders scam.

Mann said his government takes action only when there is proof of wrongdoing.

Ashu was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in Ludhiana on Monday.

Punjab Congress leaders while protesting outside the Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali on Monday had accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of indulging in ”vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab” to divert attention from the heat the party is facing from probe agencies in Delhi.

Mann said before the assembly elections, the AAP had promised the people of Punjab that it will take account of each penny from those who looted the state exchequer.

“Law is taking its course that how this big scam took place and which officers and political people were involved in it,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

“We are not doing any political vendetta. Had we done so, we would have then registered FIR against anyone till now,” the chief minister said.

“Till we get proof that yes this (former) minister had ordered it and his involvement was there in it, we didn’t initiate action,” Mann asserted.

Pointing toward the Congress’ protest on Monday, Mann said, ”First they were saying that they should be arrested, and when an arrest was made then they said why it did so,” he said.

Ashu, who is the Congress’ state unit working president, was arrested in Ludhiana by the sleuths of the state vigilance bureau in a scam related to the allotment of transportation tenders on fake registration numbers of vehicles during the previous Congress regime.

Ashu is the second minister of the previous government who has been arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau. Former minister and Congress leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot were arrested on corruption charges in June.

Ashu’s arrest came after he along with other senior Punjab Congress leaders ”presented” themselves at the Vigilance Bureau office in Mohali on Monday, stating that it could detain any of them as they were fed up with the AAP government leveling corruption allegations against them.