Is this your Rangla Punjab: Opposition targets CM Mann over 'spate of crimes'

Chandigarh, Nov 1 (PTI) Opposition parties in Punjab launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over "a spate of crimes" in the state recently, asking Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, whether this is his "Rangla Punjab".

The sharp reaction came after Kabaddi player, Tejpal Singh (25), was brutally beaten by a group of five to six assailants before being shot in broad daylight in Jagraon on Friday, approximately 45 kilometres from Ludhiana.

Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa alleged the spate of violent crimes across the state this week exposed the "total collapse of governance under the AAP regime." "The people of Punjab today live in fear. The streets are ruled by criminals while the chief minister, who also holds the Home portfolio, remains asleep at the wheel," Bajwa, a Congress leader, charged in a statement.

In addition to the Kabaddi player's killing, Bajwa cited a few other recent incidents of crime, saying the situation had reached "an alarming point".

He said a pesticide shop owner was brutally attacked in Mansa while three armed, masked men carried out a daylight robbery at a jewellery shop, looting cash and ornaments worth lakhs at gunpoint.

"This is Mann's so-called 'Rangla Punjab' (vibrant Punjab), where gangsters roam free and the youth die on the streets," Bajwa alleged.

Punjab BJP Working president Ashwani Sharma also took a dig at the Mann dispensation.

"Neither traders are safe, nor players — is this your 'Rangla Punjab', Mr Mann?", he asked.

Echoing Sharma's sentiments, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also hit out at the AAP dispensation.

"Mohali, Jalandhar, Mansa, Jagraon, every day, a new crime. Every day, fresh fear. People are scared to even step outside now. There's no safety, no fear of the law; criminals are running the show.

"AAP Punjab has totally lost control. Punjab didn't vote for this terror," Warring said in a post on X on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sharma demanded that Mann should immediately resign, "as he has completely failed to keep Punjab safe in his role as home minister". PTI SUN APL AMJ AMJ