Himanta Sarma 'thanks' Punjab CM for Amritpal Singh crackdown, takes dig at Arvind Kejriwal

Himanta Biswa Sarma has lauded Bhagwant Mann for the action against fugitive pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh and his outfit 'Waris Punjab De'.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has lauded his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann for the action against fugitive pro-Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh and his outfit 'Waris Punjab De'.

"I want to thank the chief minister of Punjab for taking the right action (against pro-Khalistanis) at the right time. I don't have any political issues in this matter," Sarma said in an interview to TV9 Bharatvarsh.

When asked about giving credit to Kejriwal for the Punjab action, Sarma, however, reiterated that Delhi is more like a "municipal corporation", and Arvind Kejriwal is its chief minister.

“Kejriwal ji is the chief minister of only one municipality. When there will be a comparison between the Guwahati municipality and Delhi, I will talk about Kejriwal. But Bhagwant Mann ji is the chief minister of a big state, he has taken good action against Khalistanis.”

When asked if he wanted to give any advice to Mann, Sarma said, “In fact, right now, I want to take advice from Mann ji on how he has successfully conducted the operation (against Amritpal Singh and his outfit)… If someone is doing good work, he should be appreciated. The crackdown was important for the country,” the Assam chief minister said.

Kejriwal and Mann earlier this month addressed a large gathering of party workers from across the state during his one-day visit to Guwahati.

“You may have become Assam’s chief minister, but you haven’t learnt Assam’s culture,” said the Delhi chief minister while launching an attack on Sarma during his first visit to the state. Sarma hit back at Kejriwal at a press conference later at night and accused him of being a “coward”.