Former Punjab Chief Minister and Jalandhar Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi’s ‘Jawani Sambhal Yatra’ faced protests by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers when it reached Shahkot on Saturday evening, with protesters waving black flags and raising slogans against him.
AAP’s Shahkot nominee for the forthcoming Assembly elections and kabaddi player Balvir Singh Pala Jalalpur, together with about 30 party workers, congregated along the route through which the yatra was slated to pass. Nevertheless, the local police halted them by erecting barricades and maintaining a gap between the two groups to stop any direct confrontation.
As Channi’s convoy passed through the region, Shahkot Congress MLA Hardev S. Laddi Sherowalia, who was accompanying him, stood up in his moving automobile and recorded a video of the protest by AAP workers.
Throughout the yatra, Channi alleged that Punjab had been run by AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and his Delhi-based side over the past four-and-a-half years. He asserted that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his ministers had been lowered to merely signing files rather than taking independent decisions.
Channi also took a swipe at AAP leader Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal over his description of the Congress as a leaderless procession, questioning his political standing.
