Joining of 'gangster' in Cong neither deliberate nor condonable: Preneet

Facing embarrassment after an alleged gangster was admitted into the party, Congress candidate from Patiala and ex-Union minister Preneet Kaur Monday said it was neither deliberate nor condonable.

In a statement she said that the alleged gangster, Randeep Singh, would not be allowed to remain a member of the Congress and the party had zero tolerance towards criminals entering politics through nefarious ways.

Her remarks came after the Akali Dal accused the Congress of backing alleged gangsters to win Lok Sabha elections.

Kaur said Singh had joined the party here in a function last week as part of a group of some 1,500 Panjabi University students and she was not aware of his criminal antecedents.

Singh had been a supporter of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the past, she said, adding that the "gangster" had found an easy way to foray into politics by projecting himself as a student and a political activist.

"When hundreds of people are joining the Congress in one go, it becomes difficult to vet each of them," Kaur said.

She said now that Singh's background had been brought to her notice, she would personally ensure that he is thrown out of the party. The law would take its course as far as the criminal cases against him were concerned, Kaur said.

Criminals had no place in any political party, she said, urging all parties, including the SAD and the AAP, to be more cautious in this regard.

The Congress would take steps to become even more vigilant, and further tighten its screening framework before admitting anyone into the party, she said.

Criminalisation of politics had, in fact, been a key plank of the Congress in the 2017 Assembly elections, Kaur said, claiming that the politician-gangster nexus had made the lives of the people of Punjab a living hell during the SAD-BJP rule.