While the ruling Aam Aadmi Party is accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of maligning the state’s image over law and order situation to gain political mileage in the poll-bound Gujarat, Punjab Congress, on Wednesday, blamed it on the AAP government for providing an excuse to the BJP to meddle in Punjab’s affairs.
“It is not good for any state government to be probed by the Centre, particularly on the issue of law and order, but it is the AAP government which has provided it (the Centre) with an excuse,” Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said in a statement, while referring to a Union Home Ministry’s letter to the state on the issue.
“Once again the Punjab government has been put on the back foot by the Centre on the issues of law and order, communal killings and gangster culture in the state and rightly so,” he said adding “it is a telling commentary on the performance of the government which has abdicated all its authority and responsibility with its misplaced priorities”.
Warring said although the Centre cannot escape responsibility either, given the fact that it controls most of the security apparatus and agencies, the main onus is on the state government as law and order remains a state subject.
He said as the AAP government had been busy in other states with Punjab having dropped down to the last and lowest priority in its scheme of things, the Centre has got an excuse to pull it up which is not good for the state.
Warring said, this does not portend well for Punjab and nor for the federal system of the country when centre starts taking “extra” interest in the affairs of the state.
“While the BJP led Central government’s intentions and designs are too obvious and clear, the AAP government is giving it all the reasons by its incompetence, inefficiency and misplaced priorities”, the Congress leader said, while advising the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to reset his priorities and focus more on Punjab than any other state.