'Did you come to sell Punjab?': Congress' Sidhu blasts CM Bhagwant Mann, says illegal mining going on unabated

Former Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday blasted the Punjab government of Bhagwant Mann for continuing illegal mining in the state despite a stay by the High Court. He said contrary to the government policy the greed of the AAP had surpassed all barriers of morality in Punjab.  

"Illegal mining goes on unabated destroying the environment and putting the very existence of people of Chand pur bela, Anand pur saheb at risk! Did you (CM Bhagwant Mann) come for selling Punjab or changing the corrupt system?" he said while tagging the chief minister.

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Sidhu put out a 47-second video in which several trucks can be seen lined up along a river. A person claims, in the video, that illegal mining was happening despite a stay by the court.

Interestingly, the Congress and AAP are part of the INDIA alliance, which has been formed to defeat the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While both parties have been discussing seat-sharing in other states, the AAP has announced that it will contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.

Now, Sidhu, who is considered close to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and was the reason behind Captain Amarinder Singh's exit from Congress, has been attacking the AAP government in Punjab. On January 26, the Congress leader had put out four different videos said to be shot from Hoshiarpur. He said illegal mining was happening in the "prohibited forest land".

"Greed of AAP overpowers all parameters of Governance. Village Mehra under section 4 and 5 of PLPA act 1900 forest land. Crushers operating where no commercial activity is allowed. Kleptocracy (chor tantar) or Democracy?" he said in a tweet. 

In February last year, Shiromani Akali Dal's Bikram Singh Majithia accused the AAP government of renewing the mining contract of two people facing charges of illegal mining. Majithia said the Bhagwant Mann government had renewed the mining contract for Mohali and Rupnagar districts of the contractor who was facing four cases of illegal mining and a CBI inquiry. He said the person's mining contract had been terminated in December 2022.

Majithia alleged that the state government had also renewed the mining contract of another person, who operates in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Nawanshahr and was also facing charges of illegal mining. "It is now clear that the ‘Mann Sarkar’ is collecting money to fund election campaigns of the AAP at the cost of Punjab’s exchequer," he had said.