Former Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab Amarinder Singh on Thursday, 14 October, lambasted Pargat Singh, a minister in the newly appointed Punjab cabinet for his remarks against the the former CM in relation to the Border Security Force (BSF) row, saying that "he has nothing better to do than cook up ridiculous stories for cheap publicity".
Media advisor to Captain Amarinder Singh, Raveena Thukral, took to Twitter to quote the leader and stated, "This is the height of irresponsibility from a state minister."
The former CM also slammed his rival, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. Thukral quoted, "you and @sherryontopp (Sidhu) are clearly birds of the same feather."
Earlier in the day, the state cabinet minister had cast aspersions on Amarinder Singh and stated, "I've always said Captain is with BJP only. Earlier he went to Delhi to make delay in paddy procurement and now this... If you're deploying BSF in Punjab it shows your motive to impose governor rule," news agency ANI reported.
The Union government on Monday issued a notification declaring the expansion of jurisdiction of the BSF to a 50 km belt running parallel to the national borders of West Bengal, Punjab, and Assam.
Reacting to the decision, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi had expressed his condemnation of the move and called it an "attack on federalism" and an "irrational" decision. He also urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to revoke the decision.
Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh reportedly seemed to welcome the Union government's move, and said that it would strengthen the state of Punjab, NDTV reported.
(With inputs from NDTV and ANI.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)