Sending graft evidence to CM’s office, says Angural; MLA Arora terms it poll stunt
Former AAP MLA Angural challenged Punjab CM Mann's close relative corruption allegations with pen drive evidence against AAP MLA Arora, denied by Arora as political stunt.
A day after Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann challenged BJP’s Jalandhar West bypoll candidate Sheetal Angural to prove the allegations of corruption against his close relatives, former AAP MLA Angural held an open debate at Babu Jagjiwan Ram chowk on Thursday where he unveiled a pen drive, claiming that it contained evidence against AAP MLA Raman Arora. Arora rubbished the allegations, terming these as political stunts.
At the event, Angural had got two chairs set up, including one for the chief minister whom he invited through a video message released late Wednesday night. Showing the pen drive, he claimed that there were multiple telephonic recordings of AAP’s Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora in which he was reportedly talking about Mann’s family members collecting money from him.
“The pen drive will be sent to the CM office. Mann should tell people what action will be taken against the MLA for running an illegal betting and lottery business in connivance with his family members,” he said.
Addressing the gathering, Angural also said that he and his family members have been receiving death threats from Pakistan-based numbers for the past two days. “I have emailed to the Punjab DGP about the threat calls. AAP is hell-bent upon destroying my political career but I will ensure to take this matter to a logical conclusion,” said Angural.
Accompanied by senior BJP leaders, Angural said, “I am ready to face jail as I know that the government will go whole hog to initiate criminal action against me once the elections are over.”
MLA Raman Arora claimed that Angural was resorting to such tactics as he has “sensed his defeat”. “Nobody takes him seriously as Angural is habitual of levelling baseless allegations against political parties and leaders,” he added.
Efforts to establish contact with the media team of the CM failed as it didn’t respond to repeated calls and messages.
On July 1, after Angural went live on his Facebook page with the allegations, CM Mann had on Wednesday dared Angural to prove his corruption allegations against his family members, and accused the BJP leader of being involved in drug and lottery cases. CM Mann had also said that Angural would not be spared for his role in “illegal” businesses.