Aggravating the war of words between the two neighbouring chief ministers on farmers’ protest, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said he would hold his Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh responsible if farmers’ gathering on the State’s borders with Delhi leads to an aggravation of the COVID-19 situation in the state.

Khattar made the assertion while pointing out that the Haryana government had only recently decided to limit the number of people attending social gatherings like marriages, religious and political functions to contain the recent surge in COVD-19 cases in Haryana. “In view of the rising coronavirus cases, we had decided to limit indoors gatherings to 100 and outdoor ones to 200 for all types of functions including family, political and religious ones,” Khattar told reporters in Hisar on the sidelines of an event.

Referring to the Hisar event, he said, “Even today for this function here, we permitted only 200 people.” With thousands of farmers from Punjab having reached Delhi borders forcing their way through Haryana on the call for protest against the three central farm laws, Khatar said he was surprised why the Punjab government encouraged the movement of such big gatherings amid the pandemic.

“Who will be responsible if this disease has an impact here?” he asked, adding: “I will hold the Punjab government responsible if the (Covid) situation (in Haryana) aggravates.”

Hitting back at his Punjab counterpart Capt Amarinder Singh, Khattar said that the use of unconstitutional language does not suit any Chief Minister.

“One Chief Minister should not use such language about another Chief Minister. I do not need to react to such language and the public is already condemning the language used by the Punjab Chief Minister on social media. It is not in my values to behave like this, Khattar said.

The Chief Minister said that it is not true that he did not try to speak with the Punjab Chief Minister. The current farmers’ movement is entirely sponsored by the Punjab Congress. Precautionary measures regarding the protest were taken by the Haryana Government so that COVID-19 pandemic does not take catastrophic proportions, he added.

The Union Home Minister has assured that he will hold talks with the protesters. As soon as the protesters will gather in Burari field, an appropriate solution will be found by negotiating with them, Khattar said.

The tussle between the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana does not seem to end soon as they are engaged in a war of words over the ongoing farmers’ protest against three agriculture laws.  While Capt Amarinder has slammed Manohar Lal for stopping farmers from moving towards the national capital, terming it as “totally undemocratic and unconstitutional”, the latter asked the Punjab Chief Minister to stop inciting innocent farmers. Khattar has alleged that the ongoing farmers’ stir is politically sponsored and motivated.