Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh responded to BJP chief Amit Shah's "raja-maharaja' government barb on Monday, accusing him of speaking "blatant lies" and said the previous SAD-BJP dispensation did not even know the meaning of "common man". He alleged Shah, at a BJP workers' meet in Amritsar on Sunday, tried to mislead people. Singh said the BJP-SAD alliance has plummeted to the "depths of shamelessness" to recover their political ground in Punjab.

"From witch-hunts against opposition leaders, to ridiculous accusations and claims, BJP leaders were resorting to all kinds of disgraceful tactics to get back into public limelight, which the Modi government completely lost with its non-performance over the past five years," the chief minister claimed. Shah had called the Amarinder Singh-led Congress dispensation in Punjab a "raja-maharaja" government. He had also hit out at Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for hugging Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa at Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony as prime minister in Islamabad last year.