BATHINDA, Sept. 7 -- Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday accused the BJP-led central government of muzzling the state's federal and constitutional rights by elevating justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra as the chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court without obtaining his approval.

Addressing the 'Lok Milni' programme at Ghudda village in Bathinda, the CM said he had received a communication to grant assent to the name of the next chief justice, but the Union government did not wait for the Punjab CM's response.

At the event, the CM said he would fly to Delhi from Bathinda tomorrow to meet jailed minister Sanjeev Arora, who is in judicial custody following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in May this year, and would ...