When the assembly elections are around, should the prime minister desist from going to the non-Congress ruled states? The ruling Akali Dal-BJP government and the Punjab Congress are engaged in a war of words over the proposal to invite Manmohan Singh to inaugurate the Khalsa Heritage complex in Anandpur Sahib city next month.
While chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has formally extended an invitation to the PM to inaugurate the project, to which Singh has reportedly given verbal consent, PCC president Amarinder Singh has written to the PM requesting him not to accept the invitation to inaugurate the complex and an international airport near Chandigarh on November 25.
Apprehending that Akali Dal-BJP alliance would get undue political advantage in the run-up to the impending elections, the PCC president had earlier also brought the matter to the notice of Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying the Akalis were trying to score electoral points by involving the PM in the project. He had sought Gandhi to “restrain” the PM from accepting the Akali government’s invitation.
DS Cheema, adviser to the CM, on Friday flayed the Congress for politicising the visit. He said the Congress was violating democratic norms by requesting Singh to keep off from the state functions.
