Yogi Adityanath, Amarinder Singh engage in verbal duel over Malerkotla

Adityanath slammed his Punjab counterpart for carving out 'Malerkotla' as a new district out of Sangrur district

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Punjab CM Amarinder Singh were engaged in a verbal duel on Saturday over the creation of a new district in Punjab.

Adityanath, in a tweet, slammed his Punjab counterpart for carving out 'Malerkotla' as a new district out of Sangrur district and termed it as reflective of the ''divisive policy'' pursued by the Congress.

''Any division on the basis of religion is against the basic spirit of the constitution....creation of Malerkotla reflects the divisive policy of the Congress,'' Adityanath said in the tweet.

Read | Malerkotla to be Punjab's 23rd district

In a sharp response to UP CM's tweet, Amarinder Singh said that it was an ''attempt to incite communal passion'' in Punjab.

''Adityanath should keep away from Punjab....in comparison to UP, communal amity prevails in Punjab...UP government has only pursued a communal agenda in the past four years,'' Singh said.

Stating that Adityanath knew very little about the history of Malerkotla, Singh said ''Every Sikh and Punjabi knows very well about the relation between Malerkotla and Sikhism.''

The Punjab CM went on to say that Adityanath had ''scant regard'' for the Indian constitution. ''Passage of Love Jihad law in UP and hatred toward Taj Mahal have earned international condemnation,'' he added.