BJP and SAD condemn Congress attempt to ''muzzle the media''

Chandigarh, Jan 27 (UNI) The SAD-BJP alliance today flayed Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for his ''brazen attempts to muzzle the media in the state.'' Reacting sharply to the incident involving intimidation of a vernacular newspaper journalist in Ludhiana yesterday, BJP state president Avinash Rai Khanna and National Secretary Harjit Singh Grewal also hinted at approaching the Election Commission against the ''misuse of official position'' by Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, Media Advisor to the Chief Minister.

In a joint press statement issued here today, both the leaders decried the audacity and insolence of Mr Chahal in trying to dissuade the journalist from asking questions from the Chief Minister in a press conference.

Shiromani Akali Dal president Prakash Singh Badal described the incident at Ludhiana as a ''proof of the frustration that had overtaken the Chief Minister and his coterie in the face of an impending rout in the coming assembly polls''.

In a statement here, Mr Badal advised the Chief Minister to ''rein in the reckless hoodlums who had come to be the signatures of the Chief Minister's political style''.

UNI