Sirsa Cong MP caught with women

CHANDIGARH: The Congress MP from Sirsa in Haryana, Atma Singh Gill, faced public anger and humiliation as thousands of the cadres of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) agitated in the middle of the night demanding his resignation over his alleged ‘immoral act’ at a PWD guest house in Narwana.

The Congress MP was found in an inebriated condition with two women at the guest house in Narwana on Thursday night. The police and the sub-divisional magistrate forced the door to his suite open and took him away, even as the INLD supporters were protesting.

However, no case has been registered against the MP in the absence of a complaint. Caught unawares when scores of locals, police and the local TV crew arrived on the scene, Mr Gill said both women were his relatives.

“It is a political controversy. The women are my daughters-in-law. She lives in a nearby village (referring to one of them). I was going from Chandigarh to Sirsa, and gave a hitch to the them at Kaithal, and in between stopped at Narwana guest house, so she came along with me,” he said.

His son Gurdeep Gill, who fought the elections from Ratia, said, “The INLD is particularly disturbed with the popularity of my father and they have hatched a conspiracy against him.”

The INLD supporters, however, say the liquor bottles found in the MP’s room were evidence that there was more to the story. It was also confirmed that Mr Gill had not made any entry of his presence in the rest house register. All three, two women in question, and Mr Gill, who were rounded-up at 11:00 pm, were let off in the morning at 6:00 am, sources said.

Jind SP Jagwant Singh Lamba also confirmed the episode, ascertained the kinship though without any apparent inquiry. Dr Sushil Indora, INLD MLA, said, “I was not a witness myself to the whole sequence of events, but police should have got medical test done and the truth would have come out.”

While the INLD said it was unbecoming of Mr Gill, Congress workers said it was a case of extreme moral policing, and hyperactivity on the part of an out-of-power INLD.