Jalandhar: Amid the ongoing political slugfest between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP over the recent blasts in Punjab, the Congress has now targeted the Bhagwant Mann govt over the 2017 Maur bomb blast case after AAP leaders invoked the incident while attacking the BJP.The controversy began after chief minister Bhagwant Mann linked the BJP to the recent twin blasts in Punjab, triggering a sharp exchange between the two parties. During the narrative battle, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, at a press conference on May 7, referred to the Maur blast that took place days before the 2017 assembly elections and killed seven people, including four children.“Before the 2017 elections, when there was an SAD-BJP govt, a similar blast at Maur took place. Nothing came out of that blast,” Sanjay Singh had said.The statement was quickly seized upon by Punjab Congress leaders, who accused the AAP govt of failing to pursue the case despite being in power for over four years.Congress MLA Pargat Singh shared Sanjay Singh’s video clip on social media and said the investigation into the Maur blast had been initiated during the Congress regime and had linked the case to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.“After coming to power, your party’s govt completely stalled that investigation. For the last four-and-a-half years, the Bhagwant Mann govt, with the CM himself holding the home portfolio, has kept the probe frozen,” Pargat Singh posted.Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira termed Sanjay Singh’s remarks “misleading” and accused the AAP leadership of doing injustice to the blast victims.Former deputy chief minister and Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also attacked the Mann govt, alleging it had failed to deliver justice to the victims’ families despite repeated assurances.“All the main accused in the case, Gurtej Singh, Avtar Singh and Amrik Singh, are still far from police custody. The govt has also failed to determine where the explosive material used in the blast was procured from,” Randhawa said.He also claimed that though an SIT had included a relative of the Dera chief in the investigation in 2020, no further action was taken and the Dera chief himself was never questioned in the case.
