'Is he a CM or a pilot': In Punjab, Amit Shah's dig at Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal's 'travel partner'

Slamming the AAP government in Punjab over the 'deteriorating' law and order in the border state, Home Minister Amit Shah during his address in Gurdaspur said CM Bhagwant Mann has "only one job", accompanying Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on his tours.

Gurdaspur (Punjab): Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on the AAP dispensation in Punjab on Sunday, saying the state's law and order is going from bad to worse as Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spends all his time touring with Arvind Kejriwal across the country.

Shah said that sometimes he wonders whether Mann is a chief minister or a pilot. Addressing a rally here as part of the BJP's outreach campaign to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Shah said, "In my entire life, I have not seen a government like the one led by AAP which makes hollow promises."

Attacking Mann, he said, "The chief minister has only one job. If Kejriwal has to go to Chennai, then he goes to Delhi in an aircraft to take him to Chennai. If he (Kejriwal) has to go to Kolkata, then again he (Mann) takes the aircraft and take him to Kolkata." "Kejriwal's countrywide tour is conducted by the Punjab chief minister. Often I wonder whether he is a chief minister or a pilot. His entire time is consumed by Kejriwal's tours and as a result of this, Punjab's law and order is going from bad to worse," he said. People are not safe here, Shah said.

While the drug trade is increasing, Shah said, the chief minister has no time for this or for farmers' woes. Many BJP leaders have alleged that Delhi Chief Minister and party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal took along Mann during his visits to different parts of the country so that he could fly in Mann's state aircraft. Attacking the AAP over its poll promises, Shah said, "I have come to ask Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal that you had promised Rs 1,000 to every woman in the state, but they are still waiting for that. What to talk of Rs 1,000, not even 1,000 paise has been transferred into their accounts."

He listed various achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in nine years and said India is now known as a growth engine. Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal and senior BJP leaders attended the rally.