Punjab Congress accuses AAP govt of staging staff as ‘elderly patients’ at Independence Day event

Key points

• Senior Congress leader and MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment Pargat Singh also raised similar questions over the identities of the elderly…
• Warring also demanded the resignation of Health Minister Balbir Singh and strict action against the office-holders involved in what he…
• He said CM Mann was no longer a stage artist but the Chief Minister and should avoid such theatrics.
• Singh said senior citizens deserved the “highest respect and dignity” and accused the administration of allegedly using them for publicity…

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress leaders, including party president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and MLA Pargat Singh, have accused the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government of allegedly using administration employees as elderly beneficiaries during an 80th Independence Day programme, claiming that the presentation was aimed at showcasing the government’s healthcare initiatives.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring demanded Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s apology for allegedly lying to the people of the country and Punjab on the sacred occasion of Independence Day by stage-managing a dance by former employees posing as beneficiaries who had undergone knee replacement through health insurance.

Warring also demanded the resignation of Health Minister Balbir Singh and strict action against the office-holders involved in what he termed a drama aimed at befooling the people of the state.

Referring to the supposed dance by those whose knees had been replaced, the PCC president noted that this was characteristic of the AAP administration’s alleged practice of creating drama and theatrics. He said it was understandable that those who had undergone knee replacement could not dance like that.

What happened

The truth had to come out and, in this case, it came out faster as one of the “dancing persons” himself revealed that he was a former employee and had been asked to perform that day.

He said CM Mann was no longer a stage artist but the Chief Minister and should avoid such theatrics. While telling lies had been a basic trait of the AAP, enacting a drama like the one on Independence Day was an insult to the sacred occasion, he said that.

He said the AAP was getting exposed every day on its own in front of the residents of the country as well as the state.

Senior Congress leader and MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment Pargat Singh also raised similar questions over the identities of the elderly residents presented before the Chief Minister.

The details

He claimed that the elderly men shown as patients were actually employees of the same administration department and were not beneficiaries of any government scheme.

Singh said senior citizens deserved the “highest respect and dignity” and accused the administration of allegedly using them for publicity and self-promotion.

He wrote on X, “The elderly men presented as patients before CM @BhagwantMann were not beneficiaries of any government scheme, but employees of the same administration department. Our elders deserve the highest respect and dignity. Using them for government publicity and self-promotion does not befit any administration. If this was done merely to seek praise for the government, it is, in my view, one of the most disgraceful acts by the @AamAadmiParty.”