Will quit if Capt govt fails to act: Phoolka to Kejriwal

: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Harvinder Singh Phoolka has informed his party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal that he will resign as MLA on September 16 if the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab fails to act in sacrilege cases.

Phoolka said Kejriwal had called him to discuss the Ranjit Singh commission report and his resignation threat. “We discussed the issue and I told him that I am not going back on my declaration. He agreed with me,” he said on Tuesday.

The meeting took place in Delhi a day earlier. The Dakha MLA had on September 1 announced that he will resign as MLA if the Congress government does not book former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and some police officers, including retired director general of police Sumedh Singh Saini, named in the report within 15 days.

AAP ALARMED BY RESIGNATION THREAT

The statement has got his party colleagues alarmed as there is a feeling that his resignation would not only reduce the AAP’s tally in the state assembly but also necessitate another byelection at a time when it is grappling with internal bickering. “We have tried to convey this to him, but he is adamant,” a party MLA said.

Phoolka said the state government was trying to protect Badal, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief and the policemen involved. “The FIRs assigned to the newly constituted special investigation team (SIT) do not name any accused. The panel report has been reduced to zero and not a single cop has been named in these FIRs, particularly the one registered by the present government at Kotkapura on August 7, 2018,” he added.

Accusing the Congress of misleading the people, the AAP MLA said former CM Parkash Singh Badal had dared the Amarinder government because he knew that it had no intention of taking any action.