Days before the Punjab Assembly election on 20 February, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has sparked a controversy with his remarks on not letting “Uttar Pradesh, Bihar de bhaiye” enter the state.

The remark was made at Rupnagar on Tuesday during a roadshow held by Channi along with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In a video that has gone viral, Channi is heard telling the gathering,” Priyanka Gandhi is Punjab’s daughter-in-law, she is the bahu of Punjabis. Bhaiyas from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi cannot come here and rule.

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We will not allow UP bhaiyas to stray into Punjab,”. Priyanka Gandhi is seen smiling and clapping at this remark made by the CM to the supporters who cheered and shouted “Bole so nihal…” following this.

Migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are called ‘bhaiye’ in Punjab but it’s considered a disrespectful term. Channi’s comments appeared aimed at the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders as the Congress leaders had been portraying the latter as ‘outsiders’ who were out to capture power from locals in the Assembly polls.

AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed Channi’s comment as very shameful. “They keep calling me ‘black’. We strongly condemn such a comment about any person or community. Priyanka Gandhi belongs to UP, so she is a Bhaiya too,” he said.

Reacting to Punjab CM’s comment, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka, or Channi needed to give an answer to the people over this comment. “India is one, and all the people are together,” he said.

During the polls campaign, Channi had alleged AAP national convener Kejriwal and other outsiders had “come to loot Punjab”. “British had come to loot India, likewise, Kejriwal and his Delhi families such as Raghav Chadha and other outsiders had come to loot Punjab. But Punjab will show them their place as it did to Mughals, British,” Punjab CM Channi said on Sunday.

Channi had earlier called the AAP a party of “thugs and looters” and said its “non-Punjabis” are trying to fool people of the state with their “poll gimmicks”. He had also dubbed the AAP as a party of ‘kaale angrez’ (black Britishers) trying to win the Assembly elections, prompting his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal to retort that he may be dark-complexioned but his intention is fair.