Chandigarh, March 21 The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann were hand in glove with the BJP-led Centre.
He said Mann had given his assent to the implementation of the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 in a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs with Kejriwal's approval.
In a statement here, former Minister and SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said Kejriwal should have apologized to the farmers for the sin committed by Mann.
"The very fact that he did not do so proves that Kejriwal sold off the interests of farmers to the BJP-led central government".
Stating that the actions of the AAP leadership had irrefutably proved that both Kejriwal and Mann were partners in crime in the conspiracy against the farming community, Cheema said it was also now clear that Mann indulged in this devious act with the approval of the Delhi Chief Minister.
"AAP has struck a deal with the Centre at the cost of the welfare of the farmers of the country. It stands thoroughly exposed."
Asserting that earlier also Mann, who is an MP from Punjab's Sangrur, had obliged the BJP government on the same issue, Cheema said Mann had walked out from the Lok Sabha when the Essential Commodities Act was tabled for amendment.
"At that time Mann made a false claim that the Bill was not put to vote. Now he has supported the same Act which proves that he is mixed up with corporate houses and did all this purposely to benefit them as well as the Central government."
The SAD leader also took on the AAP convener for trying to mislead Punjabis' with mischievous propaganda during the course of the Baghapurana function in Moga district on Sunday.
He said Kejriwal had made a great show of allegedly refusing permission for use of stadiums as jails for farmers.
The Delhi Chief Minister should first explain why he allowed fortification, including construction of concrete walls, barbed wire fencing and iron spikes to be installed in his territory on the border with Haryana.
"It is clear that you cooperated with the Centre to keep farmers out of Delhi."
Cheema also condemned Kejriwal for persecuting Sikh youth who were jailed in Delhi as part of the Kisan Andolan.
"Sikh youth have given accounts of how their articles of faith were insulted in Tihar jail which is under your supervision as well as how advocates from the Delhi government's Advocate General office opposed their bail application".
( With inputs from IANS )
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