AAP trying to create constitutional crisis in Punjab: Congress

Chandigarh: Amid the row between chief minister and the governor, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday accused the Bhagwant Mann's Aam Aadmi Party of trying to create a "constructional crisis" in Punjab by questioning the governor's authority.

He also criticised Mann and reminded him that it was the same governor who had administered him the oath when he became the chief minister last year.

Earlier, a row erupted between governor Banwari Lal Purohit and Mann after the former asked Mann about the process of selecting 36 government school principals for a training seminar held recently in Singapore.

Mann said he was not answerable to a Centre-appointed governor and went on to question Centre's criteria for appointing governors.

AAP also accused Purohit of interfering in the state government's affairs.

Addressing the media here on Thursday, Bajwa said Punjab is heading for "anarchy" with the state CM and governor at loggerheads.

"After a year, you say who is he? Basically, Punjab is heading for anarchy. It is a 'jungle raj'. He is the constitutional head of the state. Tomorrow somebody will challenge the honourable President of India also. Somebody will challenge some other constitutional authority also," said the leader of the opposition in Punjab.

"Why is he the chief minister? Because the governor swore him in. Had the governor not sworn him in, do you think he could have become the CM on his own?

"He is not above the law. He is taking Punjab through a very dangerous route unfortunately because of lack of experience or maybe the national leadership of the AAP is longing for a fight with the constitutional authorities," Bajwa, an MLA from Qadian, alleged.

"Is it the well-planned politics of the party high command? Because the same system they adopted in Delhi and now is the same here," he said, apparently referring to the ongoing squabble between the Lieutenant Governor and the AAP government in Delhi.

He alleged that the AAP does not have any solutions to the problems of the people, so they create a problem to show people they are the victims.

"Now he (Mann) is saying he does not consider him the constitutional head. I want to ask him now who will give approval for convening the upcoming (budget) session," he asked.

"From whom they will get permission if they do not consider the governor as the constitutional head," he asked the ruling party.

Bajwa said that during the previous governments, irrespective of the parties in power in the state and at the Centre, the chief ministers had always maintained good relations with the governors.

Under Article 167 of the Constitution, the governor can seek any information relating to the administration of affairs of the state and the state government has to comply, he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party hit back at Bajwa, saying his "anti-Punjab" stand has once again been exposed.

AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said that on one hand the national leaders of the Congress talk about strengthening the federal structure, and on the other hand, Bajwa is "favouring" the governor.

"Perhaps, he has forgotten that the BJP misused the office of the Governor and toppled the Congress governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka or did not allow the government to form despite having a majority," he alleged.

Mann had on Tuesday said the issues raised by the Governor were matters related to the state government. "I want to make it clear in this regard that according to the Indian constitution, I and my government are answerable to three crore Punjabis."

At a training session for new MLAs, he said that only those elected by the people of Punjab should take decisions on running the state.

"Only the elected should do this, not the selected ones who unnecessarily interfere," he had said in an apparent dig at Purohit.

"In a democracy, the elected are higher. The selected could be anyone," he had said.

Governor had earlier accused Mann of not caring to reply to the earlier letters from Raj Bhavan.

The Governor's letter had listed the "illegal" appointment of Punjab Agricultural University vice-chancellor and the promotion of an IPS officer who was shunted out for alleged misconduct among the issues on which he had sought explanations in the past.