NEW DELHI: Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema on Sunday took a jibe at Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, claiming his house has been “captured” by Delhi people, an apparent reference to the Aam Aadmi Party‘s (AAP) top leadership.
Cheema was reacting to Mann’s recent remark expressing willingness to step down for the AAP to appoint a full-time Punjab unit chief.
The Punjab CM has been serving the AAP as its Punjab unit chief for the past seven years.
“I feel he will have to resign from all the posts (he has). Is he really the CM? People from Delhi have captured the CM’s house,” says Akali Dal leader Daljit Singh Cheema told news agency PTI.
The statement comes at a time when CM Mann is struck in a quagmire as disappointed and angry over no marked improvement in paddy procurement and transportation, farmer organisations affiliated to Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and SKM (Non-Political) started indefinite protests at Dagru village in Moga on Saturday.
CM Mann also met Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers JP Nadda in New Delhi to demand adequate supply of Diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser “on priority” for the wheat crop in the state.
He also appealed to farmers’ groups not to harass commuters by blocking highways in the state, saying “excess of everything is bad”.
Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Mann said, “Punjab needs 4.80 lakh tonnes of DAP but so far we have received 3.30 lakh tonnes. I had raised the issue with the minister earlier as well. We talked in a positive atmosphere. A total of 70 per cent of DAP is imported by India. But this time there are problems in the Red Sea, and it has affected the supply of DAP.