A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that central civil service rules will be applied to all Chandigarh administration employees, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said that the move was against the spirit of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.

In a Twitter post, Mann said that Punjab “will fight strongly for its rightful claim over Chandigarh.”

Addressing police officials in Chandigarh on Sunday, Shah had announced the decision to centrally govern the employees of the Chandigarh administration.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled the long-standing demand of the Chandigarh administration by taking the important decision to link the conditions of service of all the employees with the Central Civil Services and the notification will be out soon,” said Shah.

The home minister claimed that the decision would benefit the employees. The retirement age for them be increased from 58 years to 60 years and for those in the field of education to 65, said Shah, according to India Today.

“Teachers will also be entitled to get the child education allowance...Women employees will get child care and maternity leave for up to two years,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party hit back at the BJP for announcing the move. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and senior AAP leader, Manish Sisodia said that Shah took away Chandigarh’s powers, as soon as his party formed a government in the state.

“BJP is scared of AAP rising footprint,” Sisodia wrote in a tweet.

In the recent state elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had won an overwhelming majority in Punjab, bagging 92 of the 117 Assembly constituencies.

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira described the move as a “dictatorial decision of the BJP to usurp upon the rights of Punjab over control of Chandigarh.

Akali Dal leader Daljit Cheema asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to reconsider the move. “This means denial of the right of capital to Punjab forever,” he tweeted.