AAP may have received funding from Khalistani leader: HP Congress leader Pratibha Singh

Shimla, May 10 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh on Tuesday alleged that Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun might have played an important role in funding the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Pratibha Singh in a statement asked the AAP to reveal its sources of funding.

Terming her statement “unfortunate”, state AAP spokesperson Gaurav Sharma said, “People who live in houses of glass, do not throw stones at others houses”.

“AAP's popularity and base is on the rise in Himachal Pradesh, that is why both, the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, are feeling insecure,” he said.

“That is why, Pratibha Singh is issuing baseless statement regarding AAP's funding which does not suit her,” Sharma said.

Pratibha Singh also expressed concern over 'Sikh For Justice' General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's threat to Himachal Pradesh in an audio message and called for his immediate arrest.

She said it was “shameful” that the foreign-based extremist is issuing open threats to the country and the state, but the government was "doing nothing".

Pratibha Singh, an MP from Mandi, said Pannun has earlier also threatened the state government but nothing was done even then.

Dismissing her charges as futile, Sharma said there was a need to handle “the anti-national forces” collectively in the “national and the state interest”.

He said that AAP has been demanding Pannun's arrest for a long time.

Earlier, Pannun in an audio messages threatened the state chief minister of violence in the state if he stops the raising of the Khalistani flag in Dharamshala.

In his message, he boasted about the Monday RPG attack at Punjab Police intelligence headquarters in Mohali, and said "it could have been Shimla also".