Chandigarh, Mar 19 (PTI) Punjab Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday demanded the disqualification of AAP MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura, who had been convicted in a 2013 molestation and assault case.
Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha Bajwa said he, along with deputy Congress legislative party leader Aruna Chaudhry, had written to Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on March 13, demanding immediate disqualification of Lalpura.
However, the MLA has not been disqualified yet.
“AAP’s tall claims of championing Dalit empowerment and women’s dignity stand completely exposed. Their silence in this case is nothing short of complicity,” he said in a statement here.
A court in Tarn Taran in September last year convicted Lalpura, who is a legislator from Khadoor Sahib Assembly segment in Tarn Taran, and seven others in connection with the molestation and assault of a woman in 2013. The court had awarded a four-year sentence to Lalpura and seven others.
Later, Lalpura approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the Tarn Taran court order. However, no relief has been granted to him yet.
Bajwa also criticised the government, accusing it of blocking a resolution seeking the Bharat Ratna for legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, stating that despite repeated attempts by the Congress, the state Assembly Speaker did not allow it to be tabled in the House.
He said AAP leaders routinely invoke Bhagat Singh’s legacy for political mileage, but their actions betray those ideals. “They are nothing but ‘fake revolutionaries’ who remember Bhagat Singh only when it suits their narrative,” he alleged. PTI CHS — MNK MNK
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