Sukhpal Khaira Arrest: Congress Leader Says Bhagwant Mann 'Thirsty For Blood, Won't Be Surprised If Physically Eliminated'

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was detained from Chandigarh on Thursday in a 2015 drugs case.

Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira

Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira who was detained by the Punjab Police on Thursday morning targeted Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the action against him saying the CM has become "thirsty for blood". Khaira was detained from his Chandigarh residence on Thursday morning in a 2015 drugs case. "Bhagwant Mann has become thirsty for blood. I will not be surprised if he gets me physically eliminated also. I sense something very very dangerous," said Khaira. 

"Bhagwant Mann is not able to tolerate Congress in Punjab. AAP has done this to marginalise Congress in Punjab....Ultimately the truth will prevail," he added. 

#WATCH | Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira who has been detained by Punjab Police in a drugs case says, "Bhagwant Mann has become thirsty for blood. I will not be surprised if he gets me physically eliminated also. I sense something very very dangerous...Bhagwant Mann is not… pic.twitter.com/G15b2HmgEB

— ANI (@ANI) September 28, 2023

Speaking on the "old and serious" case, Khaira said he was summoned by Fazilka court in 2017 and later "a five judge-constitutional bench of the Supreme Court ruled in my favour quashing the summons on the basis of which we moved High Court." "Under this FIR I was arrested and kept for 80 days in Patiala jail." 

"I was given a regular bail in a detailed order by the high court under this FIR," he added. 

"Will you keep attacking your opponents on the same offence time and again," questioned the Congress leader. 

Khaira said that on one side Kejriwal and Mann "put pressure on our party's leadership in Delhi to enter into the I.N.D.I.A. bloc and in Punjab, they resort to such dirty tactics to marginalise Congress." 

He also claimed that this was the fourth case against him by Bhagwant Mann. 

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring condemned the action and called it a"political vendetta", adding that it is an attempt to "intimidate the opposition". The development comes on the heels of an ongoing tussle between the Punjab unit of both parties who have not agreed to join hands for the opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc.