Protesting AAP leaders brave water cannon

Mohali, July 3

Protesting power cuts in Punjab, hundreds of workers and leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today staged a dharna at the Siswan T-point and later marched towards the farmhouse of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in Mohali. They were demanding the Chief Minister’s resignation.

State AAP president Bhagwant Mann and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema, along with their supporters, were detained by the police. However, they were released later.

The police had put up barricades to stop the protesters from moving towards the farmhouse. The protesters, after crossing the first line of barricades, tried to break the second line. However, the police used a water cannon to disperse them. In a gross violation of Covid-19 norms, the protesters clashed with the police.

Addressing the protesters earlier, Bhagwant Mann said in this hot weather, people were not getting adequate power supply and were suffering due to daily power cuts. Being the Power Minister of the state, the Chief Minister should take moral responsibility for the current power crisis, he added.

He said anti-Punjab power pacts and mafia rule, which were witnessed during the SAD-BJP government, were going on in the Congress regime as well, and there was no one to listen to the problems of common man. — TNS

State AAP chief among 23 leaders booked

Mohali: Twentythree leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including state president Bhagwant Mann, leader of Opposition Harpal Cheema and four party MLAs, were booked on the charge of holding a large gathering and protesting near the Punjab CM’s farmhouse in Siswan. A case under Section 188 of the IPC and Section 51 (A) of the Disaster Management Act has been registered against 23 people by name and 200 unknown persons. TNS