Farm laws: Amarinder dubs Kejriwal a 'big fraud'

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ridiculed his counterpart Arvind Kejriwal on Friday over his alleged double standards over the farm laws, a day after the Delhi assembly passed a resolution against the legislations and the Aam Aadmi Party leader tore up its copies.

Singh's described Kejriwal's act as "theatrics" as the Delhi government had given approval to the "black farm laws" by notifying one of them last month, adding that the Aam Aadmi Party leader was indulging in "petty politics" now.

"This shows Kejriwal and the AAP have a different face for the people, with totally contrarian intentions hidden inside," the Congress leader said, calling the Delhi chief minister a "big fraud".

Singh termed both the AAP and the Shiromani Akali Dal a "bunch of hypocrites whose double standards on the farm laws had exposed their lack of commitment to the farmers".

"The AAP and Akali Dal MLAs never say what they mean, and vice versa," Singh said in an informal interaction with the media in Mohali after the launch of second phase of 'Punjab Smart Connect Scheme', where smartphones were distributed to another 80,000 Class 12 students of government schools.

According to Singh, the AAP and the Akali Dal legislators extended support when the state government passed bills in the Assembly to negate the Centre's farm laws, but both the parties changed their tune to "suit" their political interests.

"And now, in a bid to exploit the farmers' agitation, they have again done a U-turn on the issue and are projecting themselves as the messiahs of the farmers, whose interests both parties had been instrumental in pawning off to the BJP," he said.

"While SAD was party to the introduction of the farm ordinances in the first place, the AAP government in Delhi had been quick to implement one of the draconian laws," Singh added.