SAD, AAP attack Cong govt over Amritsar attack

The SAD and the AAP Sunday attacked the Congress-led Punjab government over the grenade attack in Amritsar and alleged that there was a "complete breakdown" of the law and order in the state.

Three persons were killed and 20 injured when two motorcycle-borne miscreants hurled a grenade attack at a religious congregation of over 200 devotees inside a Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar earlier on Sunday.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed that the law and order situation in Punjab had "deteriorated" immediately after the Congress came to power.

He alleged that the Congress government was "encouraging" elements whose sole aim was to disturb Punjab's hard-won peace.

Unfortunately the present Congress government thinks politics weigh over peace, Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a statement here.

"It is this thought which took Punjab into a dark era earlier. The present government needs to eschew this policy permanently for lasting peace in the state," he said.

The SAD chief said the Congress government was found wanting in its duty to maintain peace in the state.

SAD leader and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal took to twitter to attack Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

"First bombs and now grenade attack in #Amritsar, what next Raja saab? When will you and your ministers stop encouraging elements bent on disturbing hard-won peace? Stop playing politics and get down to serious governance. Punjabis don't want to go back into dark era," she said.

SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal condemned the attack.

He alleged that the Congress rulers in the state had a tendency to "encourage, promote and flirt with enemies of peace for political mileage".

"The growing violence in Punjab today is the direct result of the cynical political opportunism of the Congress party in the state and its hobnobbing with the enemies of peace," the former chief minister said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also condemned the attack and questioned the law and order situation in the state.

The situation has gone from "bad to worse" and the police and other agencies have "failed", AAP leaders Bhagwant Mann, Sadhu Singh, Harpal Singh Cheema and Budhram claimed in a statement.

The anti-social elements are challenging the integrity and prosperity of the state, they said.

Mann said Amarinder Singh should hand over the Home Affairs portfolio to someone who is serious about performing his duty.

The AAP also demanded a time-bound judicial inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile, Congress legislator Raj Kumar Verka told reporters in Amritsar that the blast was a result of "failure" of the intelligence agencies.

"They (anti-social elements) have again tried to foment trouble in Punjab but people of the state have always faced such a challenge bravely. We will deal with them (anti-social elements) with an iron hand.I am saying it is a failure of intelligence (agencies), be it of the state or the Centre," he said.