New Delhi, Nov. 21: The Congress today said the Akali Dal's allegation that Rahul Gandhi was associating with anti-national elements in Punjab was "absurd" and "a ploy to divert attention" from the "abysmal all-round failure" of the state's ruling party.

Former chief minister Amarinder Singh said the Akali Dal, a BJP ally, was also frustrated because of people's anger against the state government.

It was the Akalis, he said, who had often supported such forces and added that even a memorial had been built inside the Golden Temple to honour militants.

Hours earlier, Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal had told a media conference in Delhi that several Congress leaders shared the stage with separatist elements at a gathering earlier this month in Amritsar, where the demand for Khalistan was raked up.

Sukhbir also met President Pranab Mukherjee and said the Congress should be "derecognised".

"Everyone knows what Punjab went through in the 1980s... Thousands of people were killed.... Everyone knows how it started. The Congress encouraged certain anti-national elements to counter the Akali Dal but this went out of control. Under Rahul Gandhi, the Congress is once again trying to create the same environment in Punjab," Sukhbir said.

The Congress, Sukhbir added, is trying to distance itself from the Sarbat Khalsa. "If they were not part of it, why have they taken no action against the Congress leaders who were on stage?"

The fact that Mann was not allowed to speak at the Sarbat Khalsa, which Sukhbir claims was an "anti-national show", makes it clear what people wanted, Amarinder said. "Had it been a pro-Khalistan congregation and not an anti-Badal show, why should a Khalistan proponent like Mann not be allowed to speak?"

He said leaders of other parties, such as the BSP and the Aam Aadmi Party, also attended the congregation.