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Irresponsible, ridiculous: Amarinder Singh on Congress attack over BSF row
Singh’s media advisor Raveen Thukral quoted the former as saying that Pargat Singh and his close ally Navjot Singh Sidhu had nothing better to do than cooking up “ridiculous stories for cheap publicity”.
Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday hit out at Congress leader Pargat Singh for saying he had been with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even while he was heading the Congress government in the state.
Earlier in the day, the school education minister said, “I've always said Captain (former CM) is with BJP only. Earlier, he went to Delhi to delay procurement of paddy and now this... If you are deploying the BSF in Punjab it shows your motive to impose governor rule.”
His comment was in response to Amarinder Singh praising the decision of the Union government to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50km (which was 15km earlier) inside the Indian territory from the International Border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Also read | Centre raises BSF's area of jurisdiction, Punjab CM wants decision rolled back
Calling it the height of irresponsibility, Singh’s media advisor Raveen Thukral quoted the former as saying that Pargat Singh and his close ally Navjot Singh Sidhu had nothing better to do than cooking up “ridiculous stories for cheap publicity”.
“This is the height of irresponsibility from a state minister. You and @sherryontopp are clearly birds of the same feather, with nothing better to do than cook up ridiculous stories for cheap publicity.’: @capt_amarinder to Pargat Singh @INCPunjab @INCIndia”.
Amarinder Singh also slammed Congress leader Randeep Surjewala who said the former did not write about increasing the BSF’s jurisdiction in Punjab while in the CM’s chair.
Days after resigning as the chief minister following months of tussle over leadership issue within the Congress, Singh met Union home minister Amit Shah amid speculations that he might switch over to the BJP.
While he made it clear that he would not join the saffron camp, he said he would definitely leave the Congress having suffered adequate humiliation within the grand old party.
He said Surjewala, who could not an election even in his own state, did not have any right to speak on national issues.
“How ridiculous! You mean I’m dictating @HMOIndia decisions now not just in Punjab but also in Gujarat, WB, Assam, etc? A person who couldn’t win an election in his own state has frankly no right to speak on national issues.’: @capt_amarinder to @rssurjewala @INCIndia,” Thukral quoted Amarinder as saying.
