Keep out of Punjab, Capt tells Kejriwal

CHANDIGARH: A day after he declared that AAP workers will go to every village and street of Punjab to check people’s oxygen levels, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday warned his Delhi counterpart and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal against trying to exploit the Covid crisis to instigate people in the state.

In a statement, Amarinder said that Punjab’s villages have witnessed a spurt of fake news and provocative videos, at least one of which was found to have emanated from abroad, most likely Pakistan, and propagated here by an active worker of Kejriwal’s party. “AAP’s Amrinder Singh has been arrested and is being questioned to ascertain who motivated him to circulate the outrageous post of a dead body to mislead the people of Punjab into believing that organs of dead Corona patients were being removed by the state health department,” he said.

The CM said the video/post propagated by the AAP worker was seen to be exhorting and provoking people not to cooperate with health authorities, thus endangering the health and safety of the citizens of the state. “Such rumours are provoking a section of the community to resist proper medical care which needs to be provided to all Covid affected citizens, which is a clear case of a deadly criminal conspiracy against the people of the state who are already suffering due to the pandemic, he said.

Leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema hit back at the chief minister, terming his statement as irresponsible and unwarranted.