The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for choosing Charanjit Singh Channi, an accused in the 2018 #MeToo case, as the next Chief Minister of Punjab. According to the three-year-old case, Channi had allegedly sent “inappropriate text messages” to a woman IAS officer. However, a complaint was never registered in the matter and the then Chief Minister of the state Captain Amarinder Singh claimed that the issue was raised.
Sharing a news article on Twitter, BJP’s National IT department in-charge Amit Malviya said, “Congress CM Charanjit Channi faced action in 3-year old #MeToo case. He had allegedly sent an inappropriate message to a woman IAS officer in 2018. It was covered up but the matter came up again after the Punjab Women’s Commission sent a notice. Well done Rahul.”
Last week, the Punjab Women’s Commission sent a notice to the Congress-led state government asking it to respond within a week. The head of the panel, Manisha Gulati, also warned of a sit-in if the government failed to do so.
The victim has now been transferred out of Punjab. IAS officers are pressurizing me to take action. That’s why I have sent a notice to the Punjab government. When the chief secretary of the state is a woman, the national party president is a woman, how can a woman IAS officer not get justice? If the government doesn’t respond within a week, I will stage a dharna,”.
With a smiling Sidhu, Charanjit Channi left the Raj Bhavan; To take oath tomorrow at 11 am. AICC General Secretary Harish Rawat announced on Twitter this evening that Channi has been elected the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Punjab and will be the next Chief Minister. Channi, the Dalit face of the Congress, will replace Captain Amarinder Singh, who had resigned a day earlier following a power struggle in the party.
Channi’s selection assumes significance as the discord-hit Congress is facing assembly elections in less than five months. The BJP had earlier announced that if voted to power in Punjab, it would make a Dalit chief minister, while the SAD, which is fighting the upcoming elections in alliance with the BSP, had said that its deputy chief minister would be from a Dalit. Community.
Amarinder Singh said that he is hopeful that Channi is able to keep the border state of Punjab safe. “My best wishes to Charanjit Singh Channi. I hope that he is able to keep the border state of Punjab safe and protect our people from the growing security threat from across the border.”