CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has suspended former IPS officer-turned-MLA from Amritsar (North), Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, from the party for five years for anti-party activities, following a string of public criticisms levelled by him against his own government.Kunwar had recently questioned the action taken by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau against senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, prompting the party to suspend him, citing his remarks as anti-party activities. He has also not been attending party meetings for the past few months. The suspension was decided at a Political Affairs Committee meeting, said party sources.He had criticised Majithia’s arrest, stating that when the Akali leader was previously arrested, the government had not sought his remand and had instead accused police officers of facilitating his bail. He termed the arrest unethical. Kunwar said that although he had ideological differences with Majithia, this case was about ethics and integrity in the process. Majithia was arrested from his house in Amritsar last week.Kunwar has, on several occasions, publicly questioned his own party’s government, particularly over the handling of the 2015 sacrilege cases and related police firing incidents.After the recent hooch tragedy in Amritsar, in which 27 people died after consuming illicit liquor, Kunwar alleged that some AAP leaders had joined hands with the liquor mafia.Commenting on Kunwar’s expulsion, AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said, “He has been consistently making public statements against party activities, which is against political decorum and is unacceptable under any circumstances.”Garg stated that the action taken against Bikram Majithia had the full support of the people of Punjab. “For the first time, the people of the state feel that the government is genuinely taking action against the drug mafia. However, despite being an MLA from the party, Kunwar deliberately spoke against this action, which is entirely inappropriate,” he said.He added that the AAP government was working with full commitment to eradicating drugs from Punjab and that the Punjab Police was continuously cracking down on drug smugglers and sending them to jail. “At such a time, statements like those made by Kunwar are highly condemnable and unfortunate.”
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