Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday said that he had not received any resignation from his Cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak in the backdrop of charges of sexual misconduct.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Mann said he also had not received any purported videos of the minister that confirmed the allegations.
Senior Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira had Monday met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and claimed to have handed over to him videos of “a Punjab minister” which contained “highly objectionable content”.
Outside the Raj Bhavan, Khaira told the media that the contents of the videos were so objectionable that a viewer cannot watch them even for 15-20 seconds. He said the two clips were of 4-minute and 8-minute duration.
Khaira said that he requested the Punjab governor to get the authenticity of the videos verified and to initiate action against the minister.
Although Khaira had not named the minister, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted claiming that “highly obscene” video clips of Kataruchak were handed over to the governor.
Highly obscene video of AAP Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak has been submitted to Governor Punjab.
The minister has tendered his resignation & CM Bhagwant Mann would do a Press Conf of the same in morning.
AAP Punjab is busy managing its scandals.
His Viral video is the #Badlaav
— Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) May 1, 2023
Rubbishing the charges against his minister, the Punjab chief minister said that both Khaira and Sirsa were used to making false allegations. “If Manjinder Singh Sirsa is saying that Kataruchak has resigned, then maybe Kataruchak has handed over his resignation to Sirsa because I have not received it,” he said.
Kataruchak, 52, is an MLA from Bhoa in Pathankot and is the Punjab food and civil supplies minister.
Mann said Sirsa himself was “quite an expert in giving resignations and he thinks that this is how it happens elsewhere as well”. This only show that the opposition leaders are worried about the Jalandhar bypoll and have no other issue to talk about, he added.
The Jalandhar seat fell vacant after the death of Congress MP Santokh Chaudhary, who collapsed during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in January. The bypoll is slated for 10 May.
The CM also lashed out at Khaira saying that when the latter was heading the Punjab Democratic Alliance, he gave a ticket to Kataruchak to contest the parliamentary polls from Gurdaspur. “That time he did not find anything wrong with him,” said Mann.
“Khaira should understand that we have been chosen by Punjab for a period of time and we will complete it. I know Khaira very well, and he seems always in a hurry to occupy this chair,” he said, pointing at the chair of the chief minister.
On Monday, Khaira had told media persons that he was given the video clips by “some responsible people”. “I have applied my mind and decided against putting these videos in the public domain because it might have a very bad impact on the young minds out there. Instead, I have chosen to hand over these clips to the Punjab governor along with the formal complaint,” he said.
The Congress leader further claimed that in case he was to hand over these video clips to the Punjab government or the Punjab police, they would try to brush the entire thing under the carpet. “The objective of the Bhagwant Mann government and the police is now under a cloud because for the past one year, the government has only acted against opposition leaders through the vigilance bureau,” he alleged.
Khaira had also said that he requested the governor that if an independent probe agency confirmed the authenticity of the videos, then he should ask the Mann government to drop the minister from the Cabinet and that a case be registered if there was any form of “sexual behaviour”.
Earlier, the Bholath MLA had accused Kataruchak of employing his own relatives, including his son, on official positions. In response, Kataruchak had denied the allegations saying that he will move court for seeking defamation action.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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