Chandigarh: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded the immediate resignation of Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, accusing the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of suppressing dissent and enabling harassment after a 47-year-old Dalit man from Dirba constituency in Sangrur district, died by suicide.
The incident followed a public interaction where the victim, whose son suffers from substance abuse, confronted Cheema over the unchecked availability of synthetic drugs (chitta) in his village. Family members alleged that local party officials and village leaders subsequently intimidated him and pressured him to tender a public apology, prompting him to consume poison.
The Congress leader criticised the state’s emergency medical infrastructure, pointing out that the victim had to be moved across multiple facilities—from the Sangrur Civil Hospital to Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, and ultimately to a private hospital in Ludhiana—before succumbing to the poison due to inadequate immediate care.
Gandhi urged chief minister Bhagwant Mann to ensure an independent investigation and lodge a police complaint against Cheema, highlighting a broader pattern of political high-handedness.
Meanwhile, AAP officials denied the allegations, maintaining that the state government is pursuing an aggressive crackdown on narcotics networks and that opposition parties are politicising a personal tragedy.