The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has lashed out at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership over their deliberate and mischievous attempt to undermine the office of the Governor with their blatantly false charges of mismanagement of Thursdaymorning’s swearing-in ceremony.Reacting sharply to AAP Punjab leaders’ charges of inefficient handling of the event, which was organized by the Governor’s office, a PPCC spokesperson said a panic-stricken AAP, unable to swallow its ignominious defeat in the Punjab assembly polls, was trying desperately to defame the newly formed Congress government in the state by making false and baseless allegations.The spokesperson pointed out that the complete arrangements for the event were made by the Raj Bhavan, with the Congress government not even sworn in till the completion of the ceremony.The AAP leadership, instead of accepting their electoral defeat gracefully and playing the role of a healthy opposition, seemed hell-bent on creating hurdles even before the Congress government was sworn in, as was evident from their behaviour at the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his ministerial colleagues, said the spokesperson.
As is their habit, the AAP leaders are once indulging in theatrics and gimmickry to grab attention, without caring about the lack of Constitutional propriety in their behaviour, said the spokesperson, adding that there was no problem or chaos at all at the Punjab Raj Bhavan during the oath-taking ceremony.Had that been the case, the media, present in large numbers, would have been the first to put the spotlight on it, he added.The entire drama, said the spokesperson in a statement issued here, was being enacted by AAP to mislead the public, as they had been doing all through the election campaign. The people of Punjab were not taken in by their false words and actions earlier, and would not be misled even now, he added.Pointing out that this was not the first time AAP had tried to lower the dignity of a Constitutional authority, the spokesperson said the party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had set a bad precedent by questioning the credibility of the Election Commission and going into a confrontationist mode against the poll body on several occasions in the run-up to the polls. Even after the results, Kejriwal had steadfastly refused to acknowledge that his party had been routed in the polls and continued to challenge the Constitutional authority of the Election Commission with his baseless charges of rigging of EVMs, he added.The spokesperson urged the AAP leadership to behave with maturity, in keeping with their stature as the main opposition party in Punjab, and to play a constructive role in building the state’s development plank.