Maybe you could check it (Constitutional provision) now, Amarinder Singh told Arvind Kejriwal
Replying to a tweet by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal questioning the legality of Punjab's amendment bills passed in the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday asked the former if he's with the farmers or against them.
The Punjab Chief Minister said it "smacked of total ignorance" on the part of the Delhi chief minister to raise questions on the legality of the bills without "bothering to check the constitutional and legal provisions".
"It was a different matter that he could not blame Mr Kejriwal for such ignorance considering that Delhi is not really a state, as a result of which its chief minister did not know the legal nitty-gritties of running a state, he quipped, taking a jibe at Mr Kejriwal's lack of knowledge on matters concerning states," said a release issued by Punjab government.
As per the release, the Punjab Chief Minister said he did expect Mr Kejriwal to do some home-work before rushing to react to his remarks, "that were made in the interest of farmers, who I thought you might have some concern for."
The Chief Minister took a jibe at his Delhi counterpart and said he thought the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader knew his Constitution, "which clearly says that u/Article 254 (II) states can seek an amendment to central laws for local & contextual needs, as has been done in many cases, especially in CPC & CrPC laws."
"Maybe you could check it (the Constitutional provision) now!," he told Mr Kejriwal.
The Punjab Chief Minister said instead of questioning his government's Bills, it would be better for Mr Kejriwal to "get out of your IT mindset" and ask AAP's Punjab unit to back the state government in its fight for the rights of the farmers unless their support to our Bills was just a facade.
"The ball is in your court: Are you with farmers or against them?" he asked, and challenged the Delhi Chief Minster "to come out with a categorical stand on the issue of Punjab amendment Bills, which AAP MLAs in the state had backed in the Assembly but had criticised outside the House to expose their double standards," said the release.
Earlier today, in a reply to Mr Singh's accusation of "double standards" on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the AAP for criticizing the state's farm bills, Mr Kejriwal said the former is misleading people with the new bills.
"Raja Sahib, you amended the laws of the Centre. Can a state change the laws of the centre? No. You mislead the people. You passed the laws yesterday; will the farmers of Punjab get MSP after that? No," Chief Minister Kejriwal tweeted in reply to a tweet by Punjab Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
The CMO in a tweet before that asked Kejriwal to bring out similar bills like Punjab to counter the Centre's three agriculture sector laws.
"Amazed at double standards of SAD and AAP, says Captain Amarinder Singh on their criticism of state's bills after backing them in the House. Chief Minister asks Arvind Kejriwal to follow Punjab's examples to bring out similar bills to save farmers," Punjab CMO tweeted earlier.