Chandigarh: Amid speculation that they could join the BJP after resigning from AAP’s primary membership, Sanaur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Samana MLA Chetan Singh Jouramajra on Sunday said they would answer all questions and “dance on the roof with dhol around the necks” when they joined another party.Addressing a news conference in Chandigarh, Jouramajra claimed that 15-20 sitting AAP MLAs, renominated in the party’s first list of 40 candidates released on Saturday, had earlier been in touch with Union home minister Amit Shah. He denied being in touch with the BJP himself.Giving a “hundred per cent guarantee”, Jouramajra said that had the candidates’ list not been announced on Saturday, 15-20 MLAs were “set to join Amit Shah”. Asked whether he was also in touch with the BJP, he said, “We were not.” “Right now there is nothing. When it happens, we will dance on the roof with dhol around the necks,” he added.Pathanmajra, meanwhile, named the BJP, SAD and Congress in that order as possible destinations, saying, “We will go to the party which does the welfare of Punjab.”Both leaders cited AAP govt’s failure to curb the drug menace, the killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa, Gulzar Singh’s drug-related death by suicide, the Mohanjit Singh Sheron episode and the controversy over police allegedly taking possession of Daljit Singh’s body in Mansa among their reasons for quitting. They also flagged the alleged involvement of AAP functionaries, including a sarpanch, in a drug recovery case linked to what they called the govt’s “so-called Yudh Nashian Virudh campaign”.Their criticism extended to the govt’s handling of the proposed anti-sacrilege law. Both accused AAP leaders of confronting the Akal Takht and failing to make the required amendments during the last session of the present assembly. Jouramajra also cited the govt’s alleged inaction on the issue of Bandi Singhs.The two MLAs alleged that leaders from Delhi were calling the shots in Punjab, with Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia running the party while chief minister Bhagwant Mann had “zero power”.Pathanmajra criticised the govt over rising debt, claiming Punjab had properties worth Rs 10 lakh crore and had already borrowed Rs 4.83 lakh crore. He said the state could take another loan of “no more than Rs 17,000 crore” and questioned how the borrowed money had been spent and what development work it had funded. He warned that the debt burden would take generations to repay.Jouramajra alleged that ministers were not given copies of the agenda before cabinet meetings. “During cabinet meeting, the ministers don’t even get copies of agenda. They go and come back by nodding their heads,” he said.Referring to his tenure as mining minister, Jouramajra claimed he had flagged irregularities in the department. He also accused AAP MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal of involvement in illegal mining.Pathanmajra questioned the govt’s handling of jailed MP Amritpal Singh, saying he had favoured his release within a week or 10 days rather than his detention in Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act..
