New Delhi: While Charanjit Singh Channi has taken the oath as the Chief Minister of Punjab, BJP trained guns on Congress for choosing him for the position. The BJP on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress over its Punjab chief ministerial pick Charanjit Singh Channi, citing reported allegations that he had sent an inappropriate text to an IAS officer in 2018.
According to a report by PTI, BJP has alleged that Channi has been named under the #MeToo campaign 3 years ago and the case was covered up.
BJP leader Amit Malviya, who is its IT department head, tweeted, "Congress's CM pick Charanjit Channi faces action in a 3-year-old MeToo case. He had allegedly sent an inappropriate text to a woman IAS officer in 2018. It was covered up but the case resurfaced when Punjab Women's Commission sent notice. Well done, Rahul."
The issue had resurfaced in May this year when the Punjab women panel chief threatened to go on a hunger strike if the state government failed to apprise her within a week of its stand on the "inappropriate text" message allegedly sent by Channi, who was then a minister in the Amarinder Singh government.
Punjab Women Commission chairperson Manisha Gulati had said she had written to the chief secretary seeking the government’s action taken report. She said, “When the State Chief Secretary is a woman, a national party president is a woman then how come a woman IAS officer can’t get justice?
Following the 2018 allegation against Channi, the Punjab Women Commission had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and had sought the government’s stand even then.
At that time, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had asked Channi to tender an apology to the woman officer and had said he believed the matter has been “resolved” to her satisfaction.
Amit Malviya took another jibe at the Congress in a different tweet saying "In the last few days, Congress in Rajasthan passed a bill to register child marriages, giving it legitimacy and robbing young girls of their growing up years, and now has elevated a MeToo accused as CM of Punjab. Let’s wait for Rahul Gandhi to pontificate on women empowerment."