Amarinder on defensive after hosting Pakistani guests

Chandigarh -- More than his eight-day absence from the state at a time when assembly elections are just over a month away, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has been put on the defensive for hosting "well-placed" Pakistani guests.

The chief minister is even facing allegations that he took them to a Muslim shrine in Ajmer (Rajasthan) illegally as they did not have visas for that place.

Friday saw Singh vehemently denying that he had done anything illegal in taking his Pakistani guests in his official helicopter to Ajmer.

"I am the chief minister and I am entitled to use the chopper. The election code applies to the state only. I took them outside the state," he said at a press conference here.

Amarinder denied that the Pakistani guests - who were friends of his Pakistan Punjab counterpart Pervaiz Elahi - did not have visas for Ajmer and Jaipur.

"I got their visas done through the Indian Embassy in Islamabad. It was my responsibility to look after them since Elahi has been so hospitable during my visits there. The Akalis have nothing else to say for the assembly polls and their desperation is showing by raking up such issues," he said.

But the Akalis seem in no mood to let off the chief minister on this issue.

Shiromani Akali Dal president Parkash Singh Badal and general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal demanded that a probe be ordered into the visit of the Pakistani guests with Amarinder Singh to Rajasthan.

They said that the chief minister had no concern for national interest in the name of showing hospitality.

Leaders from within the ruling Congress in Punjab also seemed upset by the fact that the chief minister mysteriously went out of Punjab when assembly polls were round the corner.

Punjab assembly goes to the polls Feb 13 along with the by-election to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat recently vacated by cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Amarinder Singh defended his absence from the state saying that he was also entitled to a break.

"I campaigned hard last month during my Vikas Yatra. I also need a holiday," he said.