Terming the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) proposed protest outside the Punjab Bhawan in Delhi as an “obvious political stunt” with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections in the national capital, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday lashed out at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal over the latter’s brazen lies on the grave issue of air pollution.

“The air pollution in the national capital is directly related to the rampant construction activity, widespread industrialization, and total mismanagement of the city traffic,” said Capt Amarinder, lambasting Kejriwal for trying desperately to divert public attention from his own Government’s failures by indulging in such outright lies.

By blaming others for his own lapses, Kejriwal was showing signs of his poor leadership, the Chief Minister added.

Describing Kejriwal as a shameless liar, Capt Amarinder accused him of resorting to political gimmickry after failing to seriously address the pollution problem in Delhi in the past five years. “Now that Delhi is reeling under dangerously hazardous levels of pollution, AAP Chief has suddenly decided to turn his attention to the critical issue,” noted Capt Amarinder whil equestioning the Delhi Chief Minister on the steps taken by his Government to tackle the problem.

Kejriwal’s claim that stubble burning in neighbouring states was responsible for the horrendous situation in Delhi was absolutely ludicrous, especially considering that the number of farm fires in Punjab had actually been the same as last year, said the Chief Minister.

“If stubble burning is the primary cause of Delhi’s air pollution, as Kejriwal claims it to be, then how can he explain the atrociously high air quality index (AQI) in the national capital even during the months of December and January,” asked Capt Amarinder.

He asked Kejriwal to explain how he could blame Punjab when the AQI levels in the state, where the stubble fires were taking place, were much better than Delhi.

“The sudden spike in pollution levels in Delhi post Diwali is quite evidently linked with the firecrackers, which Kejriwal and his Government failed to control despite the Supreme Court’s directives in this regard,” he said pointing out that the national capital’s PM2.5 concentration had, as per reports, actually been lower this year than in the past.

Reports suggest that AQI in Delhi, which was recorded at 163 at 5:30 pm on Diwali day, touched 1,005 around 11:30 pm the same night due to sudden spurt in firecrackers. “Is Kejriwal so dumb that he can’t see the correlation between these figures and the current AQI levels in Delhi,” asked Capt Amarinder, asking Delhi Chief Minister to refrain from resorting to such theatrics.

Capt Amarinder said that AAP has been totally wiped out already from the political scene in Punjab and elsewhere. “And Kejriwal’s decision to resort to street politics clearly indicates that he is looking at imminent defeat even in Delhi, which has evidently prompted him to resort to such theatrics,” he added.