Navjot Sidhu targets Arvind Kejriwal over 2015 Faridkot sacrilege issue

Sidhu shared a video clip from last year in which Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal is heard saying that action can be taken against the accused in the sacrilege incidents within 24 hours

Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu Friday targeted AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal over the 2015 sacrilege issue, asking who was stopping his party's government in the state from acting against those involved in the desecration of religious texts.

Sidhu, the former Punjab Congress chief, shared a video clip from last year in which Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal is heard saying that action can be taken against the accused in the sacrilege incidents within 24 hours.

"So who is stopping you now .@ArvindKejriwal," Sidhu said in a tweet.

Congress MLA Pargat Singh too shared the video clip and asked Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, "Who is stopping you now?"

In the clip posted by Sidhu on his Twitter handle, Kejriwal is heard saying that the people of Punjab were angry at the inaction over the 2015 Faridkot sacrilege incidents.

"The masterminds in the sacrilege incidents have not been punished till now. I don't need to tell who the masterminds are. The names are there in the report of Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, and (Charanjit Singh) Channi saab can go through that. The culprits can be arrested within 24 hours," Kejriwal had said in the media clip.

Former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh was part of a special investigation team probing the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing incidents in Punjab. He joined the AAP last year and was elected as MLA from the Amritsar North assembly segment.

The incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing had taken place in Faridkot in 2015, when the SAD-BJP government was in power in the state.

The previous Congress-led government was targeted by the AAP over its alleged inaction on the issue.

Three cases -- theft of a "bir" (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib from the Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara, putting up of handwritten sacrilegious posters in Bargari and Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, and torn pages of the holy book found scattered in Bargari -- were registered in 2015.

Sidhu further slammed Kejriwal, saying he sent CM Bhagwant Mann to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for seeking financial aid for the state.

"@ArvindKejriwal on one hand talking about generating 30000 cr by omitting corruption and 20000 cr from sand mafia .. On the other hand you send your protege to the same PM @narendramodi you criticised yesterday with a begging bowl asking for 50000 cr annually-What a paradox," Sidhu said in another tweet.

Mann on Thursday had met PM Modi and sought a financial package of Rs 1-lakh crore for the revival of the state's economy, besides ensuring holistic development and welfare of its people.