Invitation of an ex-militant sikh controversial: the deputy Sarai explained that the name of Jaspal Atwal had been sent by his county office

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Randeep Sarai

QMI agency

Friday, 2 march 2018 22:08

UPDATE
Friday, 2 march 2018 22:08

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SURREY, b.c. | liberal mp, Randeep Sarai, who had accepted responsibility last week regarding the controversy surrounding the invitation of a sikh extremist during the tour of Justin Trudeau in India, has clarified her role in the case Friday, back in his constituency.

In an interview that he has given to the local newspaper “the Surrey Now-Leader,” Mr Sarai said that he had not invited Jaspal Atwal personally. “Everything we do is to transfer [the intentions] of anyone who wanted to participate, who had expressed his interest in the office. We have transferred these names. The people were excited, people were calling the office, there were 25 or 30 names that came from different industries and we have forwarded those names.”

“I have not asked the person,” said the mp, referring to Jaspal Atwal, a man who has been convicted of an attempt on the person of an indian minister’s visit in British Columbia in the mid-1980s and appeared in the course of the visit of Justin Trudeau in India last month.

According to the “Surrey Now-Leader”, the request which was made so that Jaspal Atwal was guest was made to the county office of an mp in Surrey. “It was anyone who expressed interest in the office of the district. We have forwarded these names.”

Randeep Sarai has added that, despite the past, Jaspal Atwal, he had not recognized the name of the latter. “I was 11 years old and I am the eldest among my staff. All the others are in the early twenties. We would have had to filter better, we would have had to be more rigorous. Instead of doing that, we were pretty concerned, about me organize myself, for my participation in the tour, and I just transmitted the names that I had received.”

Mr. Sarai has reiterated to the newspaper that he took “full responsibility” and that he “would have had better act”, either of apology that he had already made at the time the controversy erupted when it was known that Jaspal Atwal was guest at a ceremony organised by the High commission of Canada in New Delhi on the occasion of the visit of prime minister Trudeau.

Earlier this week, after a meeting with prime minister Trudeau, who had promised to meet her member of parliament to his return to Canada after the episode embarrassing to have occurred in India, the deputy Sarai has announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from his role as chairman of the liberal caucus of the Pacific, a task that he was performing a volunteer basis from October 2016. He had once again apologized for a case of New Delhi, in his message on Twitter, promising to show “better judgment” in the future.

He added in his interview with the journal of Surrey that it had no intention to resign his position as mp despite requests, in this sense, heard since last week.