Chandigarh, July 13 (IANSW) Ashwani Sharma, the newly appointed working president of the Punjab BJP, on Sunday, launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accusing him of running a “circus” instead of a government over the past three years and four months.

After assuming the charge amid the presence of State BJP President Sunil Jakhar, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, State BJP National Secretary Narinder Singh Raina and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu, Sharma, who is the legislator from Pathankot, accused Chief Minister Mann of diverting state’s attention from core issues by raising trivial matters like “circus performers” distract people from real-life challenges.

He questioned why CM Mann, despite convening a special Assembly session on sacrilege, had failed to deliver on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief Arvind Kejriwal’s promise on January 12, 2022, of ensuring justice within 30 days in sacrilege cases, including Bargari, through fast-track courts.

To obscure the AAP’s failure to fulfill its key election pledge of eliminating drugs within 30 days of assuming power, CM Mann launched ‘Yudh Nshe Virudh’ as a diversionary tactic.

“When an AAP MLA accused Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha of having links to the drug trade, CM Mann again attempted to shift focus by declaring this so-called ‘war’,” he said.

Similarly, Sharma alleged that Mann staged a “circus” around corruption to avoid answering why no action has been taken against the four senior Congress leaders he accused of graft in the Punjab Assembly.

Sharma, 61, is a veteran party leader and served as the State BJP President twice — from February 2010 to January 2013 and January 2020 to July 2023.

Last week, he was appointed as BJP’s Punjab unit working president.

On the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) issue, Sharma claimed Mann’s government has neglected Punjab’s interests by failing to fill the state’s reservation of 2,550 posts in the BBMB over the past three years.

Instead of addressing this the state government has repeatedly raised the issue of central security forces’ deployment in NITI Aayog meetings, passing resolutions in Cabinet and Assembly sessions, the State BJP Working President said.

He added that objections should have been raised in BBMB board meetings to halt the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) deployment at the Bhakra-Nangal dam project.

Amid widespread protests by farmers and the BJP against land pooling, CM Mann called another special Assembly session as another attempt, Sharma alleged, to divert the public attention.

Law and order in Punjab have deteriorated sharply, with gangsters operating with impunity, the State BJP Working President said.

“Traders face extortion threats, daylight murders occur, women’s jewelry is snatched in broad daylight, custodial deaths are reported, and fake encounter allegations arise,” he added.

“Yet,” Sharma said, “Chief Minister Mann remains preoccupied with his ‘circus’ to evade accountability.”

“Bhagwant Mann seems to have forgotten he is no longer a stage performer but holds a constitutional office, the Chief Ministership of Punjab,” Sharma remarked.

He concluded with a stern warning: “The Punjab BJP will respond in the same language Mann uses, but four times louder, on the streets.”

–IANS

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