Stepping up the ante against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government demanding the dismissal of Cabinet Minister Fauja Singh Sarari, who is in the dock over his purported audio clip to ‘extort money’, Punjab’s main opposition party, the Congress members on Monday held a state-wide protest.
The Congress leaders submitted memorandums through Deputy Commissioner offices, addressing it to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and sought immediate dismissal of Mr. Sarari. In Patiala, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, addressing the party members, said that the AAP government was protecting its corrupt minister while it was registering baseless charges against the Congress leaders.
Mr. Sarari, the Food Processing and Horticulture Minister, came under a cloud last month after an audio clip of a alleged conversation between him and his close aide surfaced in which the duo purportedly discussed a plan to “extort money” from officials and transporters. The AAP has been in a tight spot since the video surfaced. The AAP leaders have asserted that the audio clip was under examination and if allegations are found to be true action will be taken, even as Mr. Sarari has been maintaining that he was innocent and the audio was doctored.
Mr. Warring claimed that there was restlessness, dissatisfaction, and unease among the AAP MLAs and quite a number of them were keen to switch sides and join the Congress party. “AAP has been claiming that their MLAs were being offered ₹25 crore, but instead they are ready to join us of their own will,” he said against the backdrop of AAP’s allegations that their MLAs were offered bribes to destabilise the government in Punjab. He said that despite there being an open and shut case against Mr. Sarari, he was being allowed to continue in the Ministry.
Asserting that the Congress party had no hope in the AAP government, Mr. Warring, through the party’s memorandum said, “since we have no hope from the Aam Aadmi Party government that it will sack or drop the tainted minister, we request your good self to use your constitutional powers and dismiss him from the government for such a gross criminal act.”
