CHANDIGARH: A Punjab minister could be awaiting his sack orders after an audio clip went viral in which the minister and his OSD are heard discussing ways to trap food grain contractors to extort money from them. Minister of Freedom Fighters, Defence Services Welfare, Food Processing and Horticulture Fauja Singh Sarari joined the Bhagwant Mann cabinet about two months back. Sarari and his officer on special duty Tarsem Lal Kapoor are facing the ruling AAP “probe” to check the veracity of the clip.
This is the second such instance in the six-month-old AAP government. Dr Vijay Singla, the health minister, was sacked in a corruption case barely two months after the AAP took over Punjab following a stunning victory in the February Assembly polls.
Sources said both Sarari and Tarsem had a closed-door meeting at the residence of the minister until around 11.30 pm on Tuesday night. Sources said there was a disagreement between the two over how to sort out grain contractors’ demands.
Tarsem has reportedly met senior party leaders and reportedly insisted on the genuineness of the clip. Sarari met senior AAP leaders to explain his side of the story. Sources said Sarari’s fate would be decided after CM Bhagwant Mann’s return from Germany. AAP is under pressure to act as assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are around the corner.
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