Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said he has not received any resignation from his cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Mann said that he too has not received any purported video of the minister which corroborates the allegations.
Senior Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira had on Monday met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and claimed that he had handed over the videos of “a Punjab minister”. which contained “highly objectionable material”.
Khaira told the media outside the Raj Bhavan that the content of the video was so objectionable that viewers could not watch it even for 15-20 seconds. He said that the two clips were of 4 minutes and 8 minutes duration.
Khaira said he has requested the Punjab governor to verify the veracity of the video and initiate action against the minister.
Although Khaira did not name the minister, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted to claim that “highly obscene” video clips of Kataruchak had been handed over to the governor.
Extremely obscene video of AAP minister Lal Chand Kataruchak has been handed over to Punjab Governor.
The minister has resigned and CM Bhagwant Mann will hold a press conference in the morning.AAP Punjab is busy managing its scams.
his video is viral #shift
– Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) May 1, 2023
Rejecting the allegations leveled against his minister, the Punjab chief minister said both Khaira and Sirsa were used to making false allegations. He said, “If Manjinder Singh Sirsa is saying that Kataruchak has resigned, then probably Kataruchak has submitted his resignation to Sirsa as I have not received it.”
Kataruchak (52) is the MLA from Bhoa in Pathankot and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister of Punjab.
Mann said that Sirsa himself was “quite an expert in resigning and he thinks it happens in other places as well”. He said that this shows that the opposition leaders are worried about the Jalandhar bypoll and have no other issues to talk about.
The Jalandhar seat fell vacant after the death of Congress MP Santokh Chowdhary, who fell unconscious during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in January. The by-election is to be held on May 10.
The CM also hit out at Khaira saying that when Khaira was heading the Punjab Democratic Alliance, he had given ticket to Kataruchak to contest the parliamentary elections from Gurdaspur. “At that point he didn’t see anything wrong with himself,” Mann said.
He said, ‘Khaira should understand that we have been elected by Punjab for some time and we will fulfill it. I know Khaira very well, and he always seems to be in a hurry to sit on this chair,” he said, pointing to the chief minister’s chair.
Khaira had told media persons on Monday that he was given the video clip by some responsible people. “I have applied my mind and decided to put these videos in the public domain as it can have a very bad impact on the young minds out there. Instead, I have chosen to submit these clips along with a formal complaint to the Governor of Punjab.
The Congress leader further claimed that if he were to hand over these video clips to the Punjab government or the Punjab Police, they would try to cover up the whole thing. He alleged, “The intention of the Bhagwant Mann government and the police is now under question because for the last one year the government has taken action only against opposition leaders through the Vigilance Bureau.”
Khaira had also said that he had requested the governor that if an independent investigative agency verifies the authenticity of the video, he should ask the Mann government to drop the minister from the cabinet and if there was any “sexual nexus”. Case should be registered. Behaviour”.
Earlier, the Bholath MLA had accused Kataruchak of appointing his own relatives, including his son, to official posts. In response, Kataruchak denied the allegations, saying that he would approach the court for defamation action.
(Edited by Tony Rae)
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