Acrimonious exchanges between Amarinder Singh and Arvind Kejriwal intensified on Friday after the Punjab chief minister ridiculed his Delhi counterpart for tearing a copy of the contentious farm laws, saying he is a “big fraud” who is indulging in “theatrics” for political gains, PTI reported.

At an Assembly session on Thursday, Kejriwal tore a copy of the farm laws, saying he could not withstand the “betrayal of the farmers”. The Delhi chief minister also questioned the passage of the bills in the Rajya Sabha without voting, despite stiff resistance mounted by the Opposition. He alleged that the legislations were introduced by the Narendra Modi government to benefit business houses, not the farming community.

Singh accused Kejriwal of hypocrisy, alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party government had notified one of the legislations in the Capital, but was now “indulging in petty politics”. He made the remarks in Mohali after the launch of second phase of ‘’Punjab Smart Connect Scheme’’, where smartphones were distributed to another 80,000 Class 12 students of government schools.

“This shows Kejriwal and AAP have a different face for the people, with totally contrarian intentions hidden inside,” he said.

The chief minister also hit out at the Shiromani Akali Dal, saying both the AAP and SAD “never say what they mean”. Singh said that the Opposition parties – Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal – were a “bunch of hypocrites whose double standards on the farm laws had exposed their lack of commitment to the farmers”.

Singh alleged that both the parties had extended support when the Punjab government passed bills in the Assembly to negate the Centre’s farm laws, but later changed their tune to “suit” their political interests”.

“While SAD was party to the introduction of the farm ordinances in the first place, the AAP government in Delhi had been quick to implement one of the draconian laws,” he added. “And now, in a bid to exploit the farmers’ agitation, they have again done a U-turn on the issue and are projecting themselves as the messiahs of the farmers, whose interests both parties had been instrumental in pawning off to the BJP.”

Kejriwal and Singh have been verbally duelling over the agriculture laws for days, accusing each other of “serving political purposes” and “maintaining double standards” over the ongoing farmers’ protests.

On December 15, Singh in a tweet said “every Punjabi knows” he would not be intimidated by the Enforcement Directorate. This was in response to Kejriwal’s previous tweet accusing the Punjab chief minister of “selling off” the protests, to save his son from an Enforcement Directorate case. Soon enough, Kejriwal hit back at Singh claiming that he was part of a committee that drafted the three new agriculture bills and hinted at the Punjab chief minister’s collusion with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Last week, Singh had criticised Kejriwal after the Delhi chief minister announced that he would observe a one-day fast in response to the call given by the farmers. Singh said that Kejriwal was “exploiting” the farmers’ agitation to “further his party’s petty electoral agenda with blatant lies and brazenly false propaganda”.

Farm law protests

Tens of thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting at key entry points to Delhi for 23 days against the laws. The farmers fear the agricultural reforms will weaken the minimum support price mechanism under which the government buys agricultural produce, will lead to the deregulation of crop-pricing, deny them fair remuneration for their produce and leave them at the mercy of corporations.

The government, on the other hand, maintains that the new laws will give farmers more options in selling their produce, lead to better pricing, and free them from unfair monopolies.

The negotiations between farmers’ groups and the Centre has not progressed since the last meeting, scheduled to be held on December 9, was cancelled. Both the government and farmer leaders have reiterated their positions and dialed up the rhetoric, but have not made no concrete efforts to resume discussions to resolve the deadlock.