Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday took aim at Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, claiming the BJP leader could soon lose both his ministerial position and his Rajya Sabha seat as political tensions between the former friends continue to escalate.

Speaking to reporters, Mann said Bittu had been instructed by the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership to prove his electoral strength by contesting and winning a state assembly election.

"They have told him to contest an assembly election and demonstrate his political capability," Mann said. "That is why he is saying that he has had enough of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha."

The increasingly pointed exchanges between Mann and Bittu reflect the broader political polarization taking shape in Punjab, where parties are beginning to shift into campaign mode ahead of elections which are due early next year. 

Neither Bittu nor BJP leaders immediately responded publicly to Mann's latest remarks.