Punjab Congress leaders on Wednesday virtually mounted pressure on the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to act against the State Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh for his alleged “rude behaviour” even as the Chief Minister indulged in lunch diplomacy to apparently pacify them.
Up in arms against the afsar-shahi and not happy with the way three Cabinet Ministers attended a meeting along with the Chief Secretary despite unanimous decision to boycott him, about a dozen Congress leaders, including state party chief Sunil Jakhar, Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, and some legislators, on Wednesday, got
together to discuss the prevailing situation.
Already, several Congress MLAs have raised the demand to convene a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting to discuss the developments taking place in the State, including the Chief Secretary’s issue besides the Covid-19 situation.
Amidst pressure tactics by the party MLAs, the Chief Minister invited some of leaders for lunch at his Siswan farmhouse to resolve the deadlock. Capt Amarinder reportedly said that he was seized of the Chief Secretary’s matter and would personally look into it.
Even as the Punjab Government “officially” claimed that the Chief Secretary’s issue was just one of the many discussed during the lunch meeting, it has been learnt that the main agenda of the meeting was only to end the logjam.
During the two-and-a-half-hour-long luncheon meeting, the state party president Jakhar, Randhawa, and three party MLAs — Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Pargat Singh, and Sangat Singh Gilzian vehemently raised the issue of Chief Secretary’s alleged misbehaviour with the Cabinet minister during the meeting.
It has been learnt that the Chief Minister has insisted that the issue should be over and done with now as the Chief Secretary has already apologized. Besides, the Chief Minister contended that in the past three years of the Government, there was no complaint against the Chief Secretary.
However, the leaders, it seems, refused to buy the Chief Minister’s contention, and remained firm on action against the Chief Secretary, apparently to send across the message against the babudom. Besides, Pargat Singh also insisted on start acting in the matters that concern the people and what the Congress had promised to the people before elections.
“We talked about the Chief Secretary’s issue during the meeting. We gave the entire account, how the things happened that day, and how the Chief Secretary behaved. We asked the Chief Secretary to immediately take decision in the matter and finish this deadlock as soon as possible,” said Randhawa after the meeting.
He said: “We told him that Chief Secretary’s attitude and behaviour that day was not acceptable. And such behaviour is not suitable with the elected representatives heading the Ministries.”
The Cabinet Ministers had, past week, staged a walkout during a pre-Cabinet meet on the excise policy after the Chief Secretary allegedly misbehaved with them. A day later, all Ministers had unanimously decided to boycott the Chief Secretary and not attending the meetings in his presence.
However, three Cabinet Ministers — Balbir Singh Sidhu, OP Soni, and Bharat Bhushan Ashu — attended a meeting convened by the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh on Monday, which ruffled feathers within the State party unit.
So much so, around a dozen of party MLAs had raised the issue with the state party chief Sunil Jakhar and even stressed on convening a CLP meeting at the earliest.
Reacting on the development, Randhawa said: “We condemn the Ministers who attended the meeting and we asked the CM to take action.”
The Chief Secretary’s issue, coupled with the excise revenue loss, has took the centre stage in the State already fighting a battle against the coronavirus. The leaders, including the MLAs and MP, have been demanding probe in to the revenue losses by the Excise Department in the past three years and removal of the Chief Secretary over his alleged comments with the Ministers.