CHANDIGARH: Opposition parties on Saturday blamed Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday for his ongoing confrontation with governor Banwarilal Purohit.
While Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said Mann had created a constitutional crisis with what he described as the CM’s "immaturity and lack of decency", Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Sunil Jakhar called the AAP leader’s behaviour as "unprofessional, unnecessary and uncalled for".
Justice Nirmal Singh, senior vice-president of SAD (Sanyukt), also slammed the escalating verbal spat between the two topmost functionaries of the state government, saying such clashes could result in adverse repercussions for Punjab. Justice Nirmal said such acts were unproductive for society.
At the same time, Badal said his party was against the veiled threat of imposing President’s Rule in the state, while referring to the governor’s warning to the CM of approaching the President.
"Our party was behind the Anandpur Sahib resolution, which stands for granting more powers to states. However, the issue is not this alone. The issue is the governor’s query about action taken in the case of 66 liquor vends which were found to be selling drugs during a raid by the Narcotics Control Bureau. These vends have since reopened. The CM should give a detailed answer on this issue, else it would be surmised that the AAP government is hand-in-glove with drug traffickers," he said.
Jakhar, meanwhile, called the war of words as Mann’s way of trying to divert attention from the complete collapse and failure of administrative machinery on the ground.
"There are daily reports of death due to drug overuse, of police officials being seen at birthday parties of gangsters released on bail. The CM continues to run away from reality and is only interested in catering to building his image through ads," said Jakhar.
'What about floods'
BJP state president Sunil Jakhar and SAD chief Sukhbir Badal also hit out at CM Bhagwant Mann for his handling of floods in Punjab. "The way CM and his government abdicated their solemn duty was horrifying for the citizens left to fend for themselves," said Jakhar.
Badal said SAD was of the firm belief that the recent floods in Punjab were a manmade tragedy and that Mann was responsible for the same. He said the CM failed to hold any flood-control meeting before the onset of monsoon.
"He also failed to regulate the release of floodwaters from Bhakra and Pong dams. Later, when large parts of Punjab were inundated, he fled to Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to participate in election programmes of AAP. This resulted in a loss of Rs 10,000 crore, with paddy crop being destroyed on seven lakh acres of land," said Sukhbir. He said AAP had promised to give interim relief for crop damage before the conduct of girdawari but had failed to do so for three failed crops already.
