Charanjit Singh Channi, SS Randhawa, OP Soni and Navjot Sidhu flew to Delhi on a chartered flight
Opposition parties in Punjab, SAD and AAP, on Tuesday questioned the use of a "chartered flight" by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his two deputies and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Taking a swipe at them, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said Congress leaders opt for "private jets for travelling just 250 km to Delhi", and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the grand old party has not been able to "give up its royal habits".
Raveen Thukral, media advisor to former chief minister Amarinder Singh, also took potshots at the Congress leaders travelling to Delhi on a chartered flight.
Mr Channi, along with deputy chief ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, OP Soni and Mr Sidhu, flew to Delhi on a chartered flight on Tuesday.
They met senior Congress leaders for deliberating on cabinet expansion, party sources said.
Mr Sidhu uploaded a photo on Twitter in which he was seen with Mr Channi and Mr Randhawa, standing next to a chartered plane.
"In line of duty !!" he tweeted.
The SAD took a dig at Mr Channi's claim of "aam aadmi sarkar", which he made during a press conference on Monday after being sworn-in as the chief minister.
"After saying that they stand with the common man, INC leaders take private jets to travel just 250 KMs from Chandigarh to Delhi. Are there no normal flights or cars that can be used? Or is this chest thumping aimed at propagation of Gandhi family's Delhi Darbar culture?" it said in a tweet.
Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema of the AAP said, "No one becomes a common man by saying it, only his deeds reveal the truth of his personality.
"The real faces of Channi, Sidhu and Randhawa, who were calling themselves poor common men a day before, have been exposed."
The Congress could not give up its "royal habits", he said in a statement here.
Mr Thukral said the Congress leaders took a chartered flight even when a five-seater official chopper was available.
"Wow...what a ''gareeban di sarkar''! A 16-seater Learjet to ferry 4 people when a 5-seater official chopper was available. I'm now beginning to feel I sleepwalked through the last 4 & a half years, believing Punjab to be in a fiscal mess. My bad!
"Wonder who's paying for such luxury - the state govt or @INCPunjab? Can't be @sherryontopp or @CHARANJITCHANNI or @Sukhjinder_INC or #OPSoni for sure. Though eventually I guess it's the common man who'll end up footing the bill for their pleasures!" he said in tweets.