CHANDIGARH: Former IAS officer Kanwaljeet Singh Cheema on Thursday joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Cheema, hailing from Moonak in Sangrur district, was a 1993-batch officer of West Bengal cadre.
Badal said that it was a moment of pride for the party to have an officer of Cheema's caliber join the SAD.
Cheema was a close aide of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and had served as his special principal secretary on inter-cadre deputation for a considerable period. Cheema had also served as special principal secretary to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Badal said that when Cheema was posted with Parkash Singh Badal, he used to accompany him for ‘Sangat Darshan’ programmes to resolve people’s issues.
Lashing out at the AAP government, Badal claimed that the state received only Rs 2,600 crore in investments from 2022 to 2026, contrary to the Bhagwant Mann dispensation’s claims of Rs 1.50 lakh crore. He further criticised the state government over law and order, alleging “lawlessness" in the state where gangsters are “ruling the roost". He added that the ‘Punjab Bachao’ march was conducted to expose the AAP’s ill-conceived policies and non-constructive approach.
Cheema had served with Badal during the SAD-BJP regime from 2007-2012 and 2012-2017. After Captain Amarinder Singh took over as Chief Minister in 2017, he had instructed to repatriate Cheema to his parent state as his “stay in Punjab was unauthorised” as the Union Government had disallowed his deputation with Punjab. Then consequently he was sent back to his parent state on April 28, 2017.