CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday met Union home minister Amit Shah and sought his personal intervention to seal the border with Pakistan to help the state break the supply chain of drugs.
After taking over as chief minister, Channi met Shah for the first time at his residence in Delhi on Tuesday evening. He also urged Shah to take an early decision on reopening Kartarpur Sahib corridor to enable devotees to pay their obeisance at the sacred place. Channi also sought the home minister’s personal indulgence to resolve the farmers’ imbroglio and requested him to repeal the farm laws at the earliest.
Talking to media persons in Delhi later, the chief minister expressed grief over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight people, including four farmers, have died. He said such barbaric acts would not be tolerated. He also condemned the manner in which Congress leaders who were on their way to meet the victim families were arrested.
Chartered plane for Delhi
The chief minister again chose to visit New Delhi in a chartered plane from Mohali airport. He was accompanied by Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, chief secretary Anirudh Tewari, chief minister’s principal secretary Hussan Lal and Punjab Congress working president Kuljit Singh Nagra. Earlier, he flew in the state government’s five-seater chopper from Rajendra Park behind the Punjab civil secretariat to Mohali airport.
The chief minister and PCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu had faced criticism earlier when they, along with deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, had taken a 16-seater chartered plane from Mohali to Delhi on September 21 to meet senior Congress leaders for finalising names for the Punjab cabinet.
