Amritsar: Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla countered BJP criticism on Thursday regarding Lok Sabha leader of opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi‘s use of the term “traitor friend” for Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu and claimed that it was BJP which had insulted Sikh community by not giving due respect to former PM Manmohan Singh. Aujla argued that the label was justified following Bittu’s high-profile defection from the Congress. Aujla said Rahul emotionally referred to Bittu as a “traitor friend”, but the BJP was distorting the remark for political gain. He said Bittu himself repeatedly stated that his turban and political identity were given by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress, he added, always respected Bittu’s family—his grandfather was a chief minister, his uncle was a minister, his aunt was also given full respect, and Bittu was given a Lok Sabha ticket three times. “Anger is natural when someone leaves a relationship that was like a family,” he added.Aujla accused BJP of pointing fingers at Rahul Gandhi, but claimed that the real act of betrayal was committed by the BJP leadership against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose last rites were not conducted with due honour. “This was an insult to the entire Sikh community and Punjab,” he said.He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Punjab twice, but on both occasions the state received nothing. “It is a Punjabi tradition that a guest never comes empty-handed, yet Modi failed to announce even a single major project for Punjab. When the Prime Minister visited Dera Ballan, he could have announced a university or a college to benefit children from poor families, but Punjab was left disappointed once again,” he said.
