Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday hit out at Union Minister Prakash Javadekar over his remarks concerning violence during tractor parade by farmers on Republic Day and said it was "disgraceful and desperate attempt" to shift the blame.
The Chief Minister said violence had "evidently been instigated by supporters and members of his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in collusion with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with the Congress nowhere in the picture".
"Workers and supporters of BJP and AAP, and not the Congress, have been caught on camera waving the Nishan Sahib at the Red Fort," the Chief Minister said.
According to a Punjab government release, he said the union minister had made "unfounded allegations" against the Congress and Punjab government.
The release said the chief minister made the remarks even as Delhi Police named Deep Sidhu, "a key aide of BJP MP Sunny Deol, as one of the main instigators of the violence, and Amrik Micky, an AAP member, was also spotted at the violence site".
The Chief Minister said not a single Congress leader or member was seen at the Red Fort indulging in any kind of lawlessness and added that farmers were not responsible for January 26 trouble, which "the doing of anti-social elements who had infiltrated the tractor rally".
"The Centre should also get a free and fair probe conducted into the possible role of any political party, or even a third country as is being alleged by BJP's own leaders, to ensure that the guilty are punished and the genuine farmers are not unnecessarily maligned or harassed," he said.
The Chief Minister also slammed the Union Minister for accusing Rahul Gandhi of inciting the violence.
"Did the Congress leader ask anyone to climb Red Fort? He did not. It was BJP and AAP men who did that," he said, adding that Rahul had promptly condemned the violence and made it clear that violence was no solution to the crisis.
"These allegations are nothing but a cover-up attempt by the BJP leader for his own party's role in the violence, and, in fact, for their utter failure to manage the situation, which they had created in the first place with the unilateral implementation of the black farm laws," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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