CHANDIGARH: As the Punjab government completes three years next month, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is facing a lot of questions from his Cabinet colleagues and party MLAs over the functioning of the government. In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, ministers expressed their resentment that the bureaucrats, including Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, were not implementing the decisions taken by them. Advocate General Atul Nanda came under fire for not safeguarding interests of the state in legal matters.
Sources said Cooperation and Jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa questioned Nanda’s “competence” and demanded his ouster. After Randhawa raised the issue, other ministers Brahm Mohindra, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Gurpreet Kangar gave examples how appointments were quashed by the High Court and the Central Administrative Tribunal.
It is not for the first time that there has been a demand to sack the AG. Earlier, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar and Rajya Sabha member Partap Bajwa had raised this issue. When contacted, Nanda said he was not aware of any such demand being raised by ministers in the Cabinet meeting. Randhawa claimed despite the CM himself clearing his proposed five-day visit to Dubai to attend Gulfood 2020, he was allegedly denied permission by the chief secretary.
The issue of Cabinet ministers and Congress MLAs being denied rooms in the A-block of Punjab Bhawan in Delhi was also discussed. Many Congress legislators have now come out openly and raised many issues, putting Amarinder in an embarrassing situation. A month ago, Congress MLA and former India hockey captain Pargat Singh wrote to Amarinder raising the issues of corruption, liquor mafia, sand mafia and drug menace. On Wednesday, he met the chief minister and later told the media that Amarinder assured him of resolving all the issues soon.