Facing attacks from within, Congress party’s Punjab unit with too many generals and no common strategy on Wednesday received another direct hit with two senior leaders questioning the Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi over the handling of Advocate-General’s appointment.
The development came a day after the Punjab Cabinet accepted APS Deol’s resignation from the post of the State Advocate-General, virtually succumbing to Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu’s pressure. Notably, Sidhu has all along been demanding Deol’s removal for representing the state’s former police chief Sumedh Singh Saini, one of the main accused in sacrilege related police firing cases, in the same matter.
Dubbing Channi as “compromised CM”, senior Congress leader and former state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar minced no words to ask “whose Government is it anyway”. Also hitting out at those in the party who have “politicised” the AG office, former Union Minister and Congress MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari asserted that politicising the AG’s office “undermines” the integrity of constitutional functionaries.
Going all out against his own party’s Government, Tewari stated that two previous Advocate-Generals of Punjab became “punching bags in proxy political wars”.
In clear indications that the Congress party is still a divided house and the infighting still continues despite the change of guard, the Congress leaders are speaking against their own party’s Government in Punjab and even against the party colleagues. Notwithstanding the intense efforts by the party high command to bring the entire state leadership together, the Congress party is raising one controversy after another.
Leading the charge is the State unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu who has all along been going public against Congress led Punjab Government over key appointments, including that of the AG and the state Director General of Police (DGP).
As the Chief Minister a day before announced the acceptance of Deol’s resignation by the Cabinet while assuring that new AG would be appointed in a day, Sidhu raised the issue of replacing the IPS Sahota as the State DGP. The decision came a day after Sidhu, while addressing the media on Monday, targeted the State Government over the AG and DGP saying, “Either) choose compromised officers or the PPCC chief.”
Sources told The Pioneer that the Chief Minister was reluctant to replace the AG as the move would put him in a weak position. It was only after tremendous pressure by the party high command, in the wake of Sidhu’s diatribe against the State Government and the Chief Minister, that Channi agreed to accept Deol’s resignation. But while doing so, he made sure that he made the announcement in Sidhu’s presence — in an apparent attempt to send across a message that it was Channi who made the call.
However, the development failed to go down well with senior leaders.
Reacting, former Congress president Jakhar, in a tweet, said: “The ouster of a competent yet ‘allegedly’ compromised officer has exposed a ‘really’ compromised CM.”
“Giving rise to a pertinent question — Whose Government is it anyway?” asked Jakhar, who was among the frontrunners for the post of Punjab Chief Minister after the resignation of Capt Amarinder Singh.
Congress MP Tewari, in a series of tweets, said: “Those who subvert the institution of AG’s office need to remember a lawyer is neither wedded to a client or a brief.” He said since the Punjab Government is going to appoint a new advocate general, they would be well advised to peruse rules of professional standards prescribed by the Bar Council of India.
“An advocate is bound to accept any brief in the courts or tribunals or before any other authority in or before which he proposes to practise. He should levy fees which is at par with the fees collected by fellow advocates of his standing at the Bar and the nature of the case,” he said in another tweet.
“Special circumstances may justify his refusal to accept a particular brief. Politicising AG’s office undermines the integrity of Constitutional functionaries,” he added.