Chandigarh: Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann's remarks over the Centre choosing Amritsar as the landing site for Indian deportees from the United States has triggered a major controversy, with the BJP saying that the Aam Aadmi Party leader is “degrading his own state”.

Mann drew severe ire from the BJP and even some other Opposition leaders. The Punjab CM asked the External Affairs ministry about the “criteria” based on which Amritsar was selected to land the US military aircraft carrying the deported Indian immigrants from America.

"You select Amritsar to defame Punjab...So, at the same time when PM Modi and (US President) Trump were meeting, they (US officials) must have been putting shackles on our people. Is this the gift Trump has given?" Mann asked during a press conference. BJP leaders immediately hit back at the Punjab Chief Minister, advising him to "avoid doing politics on such sensitive issues". BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal said the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party leaders "do not care about the security of the country.

They only do politics..."

Citing that travel agents looted the youth of Punjab, prompting them to sell their lands to go to America, BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that these agents sent them to the US by illegal routes. He further slammed the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government and the state police of taking money from the travel agents, despite knowing about their acts.

"How could such travel agents flourish? They made thousands of people jobless...AAP should think about how they destroyed Punjab. They said that people would leave everything (in the US) and return to Punjab, but they are selling their lands to leave Punjab and AAP is still creating a drama," Sirsa added. Notably, some Congress leaders also criticised Mann for his remarks. Party MP Gurjit Singh Aujla said the Punjab CM's statement was "merely to create headlines. It was all meaningless".

"The flight should have been landed in Delhi... Punjab is not getting defamed in any way. Punjab has a lot of NRIs, and they contribute to our economy in a big way," Aujla added.