Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday targeted AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, alleging he is a self-proclaimed "aam aadmi" (common man) who is least bothered about the interests of commoners. "A person who is having a lavish lifestyle, how can he know about the agonies of the common man," Channi said, targeting the Delhi chief minister.

Addressing a rally at a grain market here, the Punjab chief minister asked Kejriwal which common man stays in sprawling and expensive hotels. Channi said only a person like him who has faced hardships can understand the problems of the people, according to an official statement here. Channi termed Kejriwal and his allies “East India Company” and said Punjab leaders are “ignored” by Kejriwal and an “outsider” is just projecting himself on posters as the leader of Punjab which, he added, the Punjabis will not tolerate.

The chief minister slammed Kejriwal for indulging in “theatrics” by sitting in auto-rickshaws and going to someone's house whereas he lives in a big bungalow in Delhi and stays in expensive hotels during his Punjab visits ahead of the assembly polls due early next year. He further said that most MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party have left the party as their “fake propaganda of projecting themselves as common man is exposed.”

Targeting the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Congress leader Channi further said the Badals and Bikram Singh Majithia would not be spared as they “looted Punjab for their personal gains”.The chief minister said Majithia has gone into hiding because of fear of arrest. Majithia has been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on the basis of a 2018 report of a probe into a drug racket in Punjab.

Accusing the Badals of running a “transport mafia” in the state, Channi said his government ended this mafia within just three months. He said, "We are strong and capable enough to take strong decisions to stop all kinds of mafias in the state whereas the AAP convener (Kejriwal) has given a written apology to the Majithia.” Channi said that as all AAP leaders have left Kejriwals 'Khas party', only Bhagwant Mann is siding with Kejriwal and not speaking anything against “wrongdoings” of the Delhi chief minister due to his ambition of becoming the chief minister. He once again reiterated that his government will not bow down and deal with all mafias with an iron hand and put all the big fish in the drug trade behind bars.?

-With PTI Inputs