Punjab CM Channi, Sidhu land in controversy over private flight to Delhi

Just days into his tenure as chief minister of Punjab, Charanjit Singh Channi stoked a row by flying to New Delhi in a private jet for a meeting with senior Congress leaders. The ruling party said the aircraft had been hired due to an “urgency.” Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Congress Punjab chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and one of his relatives accompanied Channi on the 16-seater aircraft. They were headed to the national capital for a discussion with Congress central leadership on the new Punjab cabinet. Channi was sworn-in as Punjab chief minister on Monday after Captain Amarinder Singh resigned from the post following months of a bitter power struggle within the Punjab Congress.

Sidhu, the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), posted to Twitter a picture of himself with Channi and Randhawa alongside the private jet. He wrote, “In line of duty!!”

Raveen Thukral, Captain Amarinder Singh’s former media advisor, quipped “Wow.what a ‘gareeban di sarkar (government for the poor)’!”

A look at new Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh’s old controversies

He questioned the need for taking a 16-seater jet when the Punjab government’s chopper would have been sufficient. “I’m now beginning to feel I sleepwalked through the last four and half years, believing Punjab to be in a fiscal mess,” Thukral tweeted.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also lashed out at the Congress, saying its leaders were using private jets “to travel just 250 km from Chandigarh to Delhi” despite claims of standing with the common man.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said the private jet flight had exposed the “real face of Congress and its culture.” AAP MLA Harpal Singh Cheema reminded Chief Minister Charanjit Channi about making “tall claims about his government” only a day before.

“The state government has no money for the common people but it can hire a private jet. Be it Akali Dal or Congress, both parties are the same,” Cheema, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, said.

Punjab Congress leader Prince Khullar said the private jet had been hired due to an “urgency,” according to India Today.

“The Akali Dal leaders should not forget what they did in the past. There was an urgency to hire a private jet,” Prince Khullar said.

Punjab state’s public debt is likely to reach Rs 3.73 lakh crores by FY 2024-25 as per the latest CAG report.