The Congress on Friday slammed Punjab’s AAP government over Punjab Kesari newspaper group’s claim that it was being targeted with multiple raids by enforcement authorities, saying the Bhagwant Mann dispensation was drawing its inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has “targeted” media outlets across the country.
Congress leader and head of the party media and publicity department, Pawan Khera, accused the AAP of being devoid of ideology, and asked it to merge with the BJP “if it has to follow Modi”.
The newspaper group on Thursday wrote to Chief Minister Mann alleging that it was being targeted with multiple raids by enforcement authorities, events that it said began with a “balanced and fair” news report on opposition allegations against the ruling AAP’s national convenor.
The group alleged these raids, targeting it and its associate, were carried out “with an extraneous motive to intimidate the press”. The Punjab government issued an official statement late in the evening, categorically rejecting the Punjab Kesari group’s allegations.
“Every party draws inspiration from someone or the other. For instance, Congress from Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose, Azad, and so on; the BJP from Golwalkar, Savarkar, Godse, and the like; and the Communists from Marx and Lenin. “The Aam Aadmi Party’s all-out attack on renowned Punjab newspaper Punjab Kesari suggests that while this party may ostensibly lack any ideology, it draws its inspiration from Narendra Modi,” Khera said in a post on X.