AAP leaders hold protest against Punjab minister

Several AAP leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema, were detained by police on Tuesday when they were going to 'gherao' the residence of state minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

Aam Aadmi Party leaders also held protest and sat on the road near Kochhar market, seeking Ashu's dismissal as minister from the cabinet as his name allegedly cropped up in Ludhiana CLU issue.

Led by Cheema, the AAP leaders, including MLA Sarabjit Kaur Manuke, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Budh Ram, Manjit Singh Bilaspur, were stopped by police when they were moving towards Ashu's house here.

They raised slogans against the minister.

Cheema demanded that the state government should immediately sack the minister to re-instill peoples' faith in the established democratic system.

Manuke said this issue echoed during the recent Punjab Vidhan Sabha budget session and the party MLAs had even staged a walk out of the House on this matter.

Later, all the AAP leaders were released by police.

However, Ludhiana Mayor and Ashu's supporter Balkar Singh Sidhu claimed the AAP leaders were trying to politicise a "non-issue" at the behest of the minister's political opponents.

Earlier, the AAP had alleged that a private builder in Ludhiana was granted Change of Land Use in violation of norms and names of Ashu, another Congress leader and three senior officers had cropped in an inquiry report relating to the alleged scam.

They had also claimed that the minister could be heard in a purported audio clip threatening a deputy superintendent of police, who inquired into the matter.