Chandigarh: Rival camps in Punjab Congress appeared on the same page on Sunday, with state president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Jalandhar MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi backing party in-charge Sachin Pilot’s Sep 15 protest march over Gulzar Singh’s death and the drug issue.Warring, speaking after welcoming AICC SC Department chairman Rajendra Pal Gautam, accused the AAP govt of misleading people on drugs, harassing Dalits and shielding influential persons facing serious crime allegations. He alleged Gulzar Singh was harassed after opposing drug sales in his village and trying to save his son from addiction.“The govt is misleading people on the drug issue and shielding influential people facing serious allegations,” Warring said, alleging that despite the Punjab finance minister being named in Gulzar Singh’s dying declaration, no action had been taken.Channi, in a post on X, urged Congress workers to join the march from the Punjab Congress office in Chandigarh to AAP minister Harpal Singh Cheema’s residence at 11am. “We demand Cheema’s dismissal from the cabinet and his immediate arrest in connection with the tragic death of Gulzar Singh,” he said.Channi, however, did not clarify whether he himself would attend the protest.Congress also alleged police torture of Mohanjit Singh after he participated in a protest, calling it evidence of the govt’s intolerance towards dissent.Gautam accused the AAP-led govt of failing to curb drugs and alleged setbacks to SC, ST and minority welfare schemes during AAP’s tenure in Delhi.
