India, Feb. 9 -- Chandigarh

The Punjab Congress and the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for suspending two senior IAS officers, calling the move arbitrary and an attempt to intimidate the bureaucracy.

In a statement, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said it was "obvious" that the officers had refused to comply with alleged illegal diktats of the AAP government. "It is good that officers have started standing up to the illegal diktats of the AAP government, which has always tried to misuse the bureaucracy and police," he said.

Warring said the government should have clearly stated the reasons for the suspensions, which it failed to do as "appa...