The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today accused Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal of "stooping to the lowest level of politics and trying to flare up communal tension" in the state.
The party's Punjab convenor, Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi, said Sukhbir must "own up to putting pressure on police officers" to "falsely implicate" AAP MLA from Delhi Naresh Yadav in the Malerkotla Quran Sharif sacrilege case.
"He (Sukhbir) should resign immediately," Ghuggi said.
Stating that the key accused in the case, Vijay Kumar, has confessed that he had named Yadav under pressure from certain officers of Punjab police, the AAP leader said, "Now it is clear that Sukhbir has politicised the police force and is using it to snub his political opponents."
Ghuggi said AAP leaders will meet the Punjab Governor, seeking an independent enquiry to unearth the names of those police officers who had registered the case against Yadav.
"This is not the first time that Sukhbir has misused his power to register false cases. Even at the time of the Bargari case, two innocent Sikh youths were arrested on false charges of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib but later, they had to be released as there was no evidence against them," he said.
Yadav, the AAP MLA from Delhi's Mehrauli, said, "Being a law abiding citizen of this country, I have always cooperated with Punjab police. I am ready to face any enquiry in the future as well."
He said the SAD's "attempt to create tension among communities" will never work as the people of Punjab have now understood the party's "politics of hatred".
Yadav alleged that because of politicians like Sukhbir, the country was going through a "bad phase".
"Sukhbir sent the police to arrest an elected legislator on the statement of an accused. What action will he now take when the same person has levelled allegations against his own police officers?" he asked.
AAP leader and Yadav's lawyer in the case Himmat Singh Shergill said the court granted bail to the Mehrauli MLA as there was "no evidence" against him.
"Even though he got bail early, who will compensate for those six days he spent in jail and the mental trauma he and his family went through," he said, adding that it was a "perfect example of miscarriage of justice".
Yadav was accused of "playing a role in trying to foment communal tension" during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan after miscreants dumped torn pages from the Quran into a drain at Malerkotla.
(REOPENS DES 18)
Meanwhile, youth Congress leader and party's Fatehgarh Sahib unit General Secretary Rupinder Singh Happy, Block Samiti member Lakhwinder Singh, Block Samiti Members Swaranjit Kaur, Inderpreet Dhillon and Jaswinder Singh joined Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Punjab incharge Sanjay Singh and AAP candidate from Bassi Pathana, Santokh Singh Salana.
Welcoming the leaders in party fold, Sanjay Singh said that "Congress party has been rejected by the people of Punjab twice in a row and they do not trust Congress anymore."
He said that the leaders will be given due respect in the party.
Rupinder said that there is a strong wave in favor of Aam Aadmi Party in the state and youngsters are enthusiastic to join AAP and be part of the revolution.
He said that Congress earlier promised to give tickets to youth from non political background but did opposite to their promise.
