Bhupinder Honey's arrest political, says Congress on ED action

Chandigarh, February 4

Hours after the Enforcement Directorate arrested Bhupinder Singh Honey, nephew of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in a money laundering case, the Congress went into the offensive against the Opposition parties, especially the BJP.

Channi Targeted by NDA govt

Channi is being targeted as he stood against the PM Narendra Modi-led government in favour of Punjabis. — Harish Chaudhary, State affairs incharge

Party leaders Randeep Surjewala and Harish Chaudhary said “anti-Punjab” forces had joined hands to pull down Channi. Surjewala said with 15 days left for the Punjab elections, BJP’s “election department” (ED) has been launched. Hinting at the chronology of events, he said: “The ED’s action was to help ‘chhota Modi’ (read Arvind Kejriwal) in Punjab.”

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge denounced it as a “political arrest, done to create pressure”. He said: “Channi is a Scheduled Caste CM. They want to hassle and demoralise him.”

“Channi is being targeted as he stood against the PM Narendra Modi-led government in favour of Punjabis,” said Chaudhary. He insisted the ED raid was not a setback for Channi or party. “In fact, it has been seen the BJP raids in other poll-bound states in the past have proven counter-productive for the saffron party. There is no link between Channi and the recoveries of cash made from his nephew.”

With their leaders adopting an offensive approach, party strategist are reassessing the situation as so far the ED has not established any link between the seizures from Honey and Channi.

The party is assessing whether the narrative of corruption being built against Channi is proving out to be productive or damaging for the party, says sources.

“By building the narrative of an SC CM being targeted and demoralised ahead of the polling on February 20, it is being analysed whether the sympathy factor for Channi translates into votes,” says a source. A senior party leader said there was no plan B and it would go ahead with the plan of announcing the CM face, knowing well the chosen candidate will be targeted in multiple ways by the Opposition. In a similar fashion, PCC chief Navjot Sidhu is being targeted in multiple ways, they added.

Meanwhile, reacting to reports of Sidhu’s barb at the party high command over the top leadership wanting a weak CM who can dance to their tunes, Chaudhary said the remark was aimed at the BJP. Sidhu is one of the contenders for the CMs face. At an Amritsar rally, Sidhu had said: “If a new Punjab has to be made, it is in the hands of the CM. You have to choose the CM this time. People at the top want a weak CM who can dance to their tunes. Do you want such a Chief Minister?”