Are you with farmers or not, Punjab CM asks Kejriwal

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday asked his Delhi counterpart and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal if he was with the farmers or against them in their fight against the three contentious central laws related to agriculture.

"The ball is in your court -- are you with the farmers or against them?" Amarinder asked after Kejriwal questioned the legality of amendment Bills passed unanimously by Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday "without checking constitutional and legal provisions".

"It shows his total ignorance. But then, Kejriwal can't be blamed for such ignorance. Considering that Delhi is not really a state, its Chief Minister does not know the legal nitty-gritty of running a state," Amarinder remarked.

"Instead of questioning the Punjab Bills, it would be better for Kejriwal to get out of the IT mindset and ask Aam Aadmi Party's state unit to back the Congress government in its fight for the rights of farmers, unless their support to our Bills is just a facade."


The Punjab Chief Minister said that he however expected Kejriwal to "do some homework before rushing in to react to my remarks made in interest of farmers who, I thought, he may have some concern for".

He dared Kejriwal to come out with a "categorical stand" on Punjab amendment Bills, which the AAP MLAs had backed in the Assembly special session but criticised outside the House which Amarinder Singh claimed "exposed their double standards". - IANS