AAP has refused to take on board four Punjab Congressministers, who have been intending to join the party ahead of 2022 Assembly polls,due to their alleged involvement in the illegal sand mining activities in thestate.
"Four senior ministers of Punjab Congress have beenapproaching Aam Aadmi Party for a while now, but we have refused to accept themas serious allegations of sand theft have been raised against the four time andagain," AAP MLA and party's Punjab Co-in-charge Raghav Chadha said in avirtual brief on Monday morning.
Aam Aadmi Party is an honest party and it does not needsand mafias, he added. Illegal sand mining is a major political issue in Punjabagainst which the Kejriwal-led party has been constantly attacking the Congressgovernment there. In order to counter the problem of sand theft and liquor inthe state, the Punjab government has introduced "Mission Clean".
On December 4, Chadha posted a tweet, alleging thatillegal sand mining was being carried out in Chamkaur Sahib -- Punjab ChiefMinister Charanjit Singh Channi's constituency under the former's patronage.
"Illegal sand mining in Charanjit Singh Channi'sconstituency has been exposed. It is the biggest expose which will shakePunjab's politics," his tweet along with a live video of sand being minedillegally read.
On Friday, he also announced that the AAP will reward Rs25,000 to the Punjab Chief Minister if he acts against every site where illegalsand mining is being done, alleging that Channi has complete information aboutthe whereabouts of illegal mining in his state.
Punjab, along with the states of Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa is slated to go to polls for 117 seats in early2022. In the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections, Congress had bagged a clearmajority by winning 77 seats, while the AAP had got 20, BJP 3, SAD 15 and LokInsaaf party 2 seats.