Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday took to Twitter to describe his counterpart from a certain state as a ‘sand thief.’ The veiled dig was apparently aimed at Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, whom Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has accused of sheltering the sand mafia, and with whom the Delhi CM has, in recent days, had a public a war of words.
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“How can a state progress if its CM is a sand thief?” the AAP's national convenor tweeted in Hindi.
The tweet was made in the backdrop of a recent ‘expose’ by Raghav Chadha, the Punjab co-incharge of Delhi's ruling party. On Saturday, Chadha made a 'surprise' visit to Jindapur village in Chamkaur Sahib, which is Channi's assembly constituency. Later, speaking to reporters, the AAP MLA said, “Illegal sand mining in CM Channi's constituency has been exposed. It is the biggest expose which will shake Punjab's politics.”
{{/usCountry}}The tweet was made in the backdrop of a recent ‘expose’ by Raghav Chadha, the Punjab co-incharge of Delhi's ruling party. On Saturday, Chadha made a 'surprise' visit to Jindapur village in Chamkaur Sahib, which is Channi's assembly constituency. Later, speaking to reporters, the AAP MLA said, “Illegal sand mining in CM Channi's constituency has been exposed. It is the biggest expose which will shake Punjab's politics.”
{{/usCountry}}“Illegal sand mining is going on openly in Jindapur, which is in the chief minister's constituency Chamkaur Sahib. Sand is being illegally ferried in trucks,” he further said.
On Sunday, after the Punjab CM dismissed the AAP's allegations as a ‘bundle of lies,’ Kejriwal questioned if Channi visited a ‘different’ mining site, and not the one which Chadha paid a visit to.
Also Read | Now, Arvind Kejriwal questions Charanjit Channi on visit to 'different' mining site
The two chief ministers, as well as their respective parties, have, in recent days, engaged in a war of words, with Kejriwal even describing Channi as a ‘fake Kejriwal’ for allegedly making the same promises as the AAP for poll-bound Punjab.
The Aam Aadmi Party is tipped to be the prime challenger to the ruling Congress in the border state, where assembly elections are likely to take place early next year. While the Congress has 77 seats in the 117-member assembly, the AAP, at 20, has the second-highest number of legislators and is thus the principal opposition party.