As Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to seek a meeting with his Punjab counterpart Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday, the Congress stalwart asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo to refrain from trying to politicise such a serious issue.
At the same time, Capt Amarinder once again ruled out a meeting with Kejriwal maintaining that any such meeting would be "meaningless and futile".
"I failed to understand why the Delhi Chief Minister is trying to force his hand, knowing well that any such discussion would be meaningless and futile," said Capt Amarinder.
Kejriwal is scheduled to meet Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal in Chandigarh on Wednesday to discuss ways and means to resolve the stubble burning issue. He had also sought time from Capt Amarinder to discuss the issue.
He said Kejriwal's tendency to indulge in petty street politics was well-known and he was evidently trying to divert public attention from his own Government's failure in Delhi to check the problem of pollution, as exposed by the response of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to the ill-conceived odd-even scheme.
"The problems faced by Delhi and Punjab on this count are completely divergent, with no meeting ground," said Capt Amarinder, adding that, unlike Punjab, the Delhi problem was the result mainly of urban pollution caused by mismanaged transportation and unplanned industrial development.
Instead of focusing all his attention on resolving these issues, Kejriwal wanted to waste time holding useless discussions, he said adding that he, unfortunately, did not have the same luxury of time.
As far as stubble burning was concerned, it was not a political issue that Kejriwal was trying to project, but it was an economic problem crying for economic solutions, which the central government alone was in a position to provide, said the Chief Minister.
Capt Amarinder added that he would continue to pursue with the Centre the matter of compensatory allowance for farmers to enable them to opt for alternatives to the dangerous practice of stubble burning.