A 'knowledge-sharing agreement' was signed on Tuesday between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Singh Mann. Mann said 117 schools and mohalla clinics will be developed in the state recently won by AAP.
Mann said that education, health and power were a priority of his government, and Punjab can learn from Delhi where a lot of work was done in these fields. Delhi can also learn from Punjab about agriculture, he said.
Kejriwal said India will progress if every state starts learning from the good work done by others. “It will be wrong to say that only we have done good work. There were several islands of excellence across the country but there were divisions of parties and states, and nothing was learnt from that,” he said in a press conference held jointly with Mann.
However, the continued interaction between the governments of Mann and Kejriwal has not gone down well in Punjab politics.
Former Punjab Congress committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu alleged the pact showed Kejriwal, who is the chief of AAP, was in the driver's seat in administrative matters in Punjab.
Sidhu tweeted “Under the garb of knowledge sharing agreement, CM @BhagwantMann has surrendered Punjab’s autonomy. It has legitimized @ArvindKejriwal unconstitutional intervention & control over Punjab’s internal affairs. He’s in driver's seat & unauthorized authority. It breaks Punjab’s pride.”
Amarinder Singh Raja, the president of the Punjab Congress unit, tweeted “Mann Sahib, simply say that Punjab will now be run by Kejriwal Sahib from Delhi.”
Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal tweeted the signing of the pact marked a “black day for Punjab”. He wrote “CM @BhagwantMann institutionalises Delhi Govt interference in Punjab by signing MoU today.”
