Punjab govt micro-managed from Delhi, claims Rahul as he tries to project Cong as main oppn

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday, hit out at the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab, saying it is remote controlled from Delhi and described it 'RC'—bsacronym for both remote control, and 'Raghav Chadha', the AAP leader in-charge of the state.

Gandhi, who was addressing a public rally in Pathankot as he wrapped up the Punjab leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, said, "You (Mann) would sit with me in the Lok Sabha. There is a lot of difference between you and Arvind Kejriwal. I respect you. I am saying this from the Congress stage. But Punjab cannot be ruled from Delhi."

The Congress leader elaborated on the comment, saying he was saying this based on the feedback received from the people he met during the yatra as it passed through the AAP-ruled state. "I asked a farmer about the work done by the AAP government. His answer was that it is a remote control government. I asked the farmer what is the meaning of remote control. He said R C stands for Raghav Chadha."

Gandhi was apparently playing up the view that the Mann government is micro-managed by Kejriwal through his close confidante Chadha.

Chadha, the Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, is also in charge of party affairs in the state and is known to be extremely close to Kejriwal.

The Congress leader further accused the AAP of diverting the revenue of Punjab to put out political advertisements during the assembly elections in Gujarat. "This is not right. This is the money of the people of Punjab."

The rally appeared to be an effort to portray the Congress as the main rival of the AAP in a state which it had ruled till recently and lost to the Kejriwal-led party, especially in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. The party is keen to come out of the devastating defeat in the state polls to be seen as a more viable national alternative compared to the AAP in the parliamentary elections.

Reaching out to the Sikh constituency, Gandhi said there was a reason why he wore a turban during the yatra in the state. "I wanted to tell you that I respect and bow before your history and the road showed by the gurus. That is my road too. I got to learn a lot from it."

In his speech, Rahul also touched upon the issues that have formed a leitmotif of the yatra, such as inflation, unemployment, politics or hatred and the huge gap in terms of wealth owned by a clutch of industrialists and the vast majority of people.