Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday said the Congress government in Punjab was deliberately delaying commissioning of the Rs 925 crore AIIMS project at Bathinda by refusing to give statutory approvals and making the site encumbrance free only because of petty political considerations.

In a statement here, the Union Minister said the Congress government, led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, got jittery when the Union Health Ministry recently announced that it would start construction on the site in June this year and start an OPD (out patient department) for diagnostics in February, 2019.