Taking a jibe at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his predecessor Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday advised him to better learn to govern as merely shuffling officers was not going to make any difference.
A senior Congress leader was referring to massive administrative reshuffle carried out by the state government on Wednesday, which comes close on the heels of poor showing by the ruling Akali-BJP combine in Punjab in the just-concluded general elections.
“It looks like the Badals are trying to vent their anger on the bureaucracy and the officers instead of introspecting themselves,” said Capt Amarinder, also the Congress Working Committee member.
The rejig of the civil and police administrative set-up saw a total of 72 transfers including as many as 37 IAS and four Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officers, and 28 IPS officers and seven Punjab Police Service (PPS) officers. Among them included a dozen of Deputy Commissioners of various districts, and the Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP) of multiple districts.
The SAD-BJP alliance could only win six of the 13 lok Sabha seats in Punjab with Aam Aadmi Party managing to bag four seats in the state while Congress took the remaining three. Capt Amarinder charged that there was no governance in the state, saying that the Chief Minister “is seldom seen in his office as he is always busy roaming round the state and presiding over his favourite pastime of ‘Sangat Darshan’ which is sheer wastage of time.
The ministers have been reduced to non-entities as the power is being wielded from within the Badal family, with the result that the economy is in a shambles and almost on the brink of bankruptcy, claimed Capt Amarinder.
“The state government does not have money even for preparing budget as for the first time in the history of independent India that an incumbent government which still had three year term left had presented a vote on account budget,” he pointed out, adding that on the other hand, the Badals themselves were amassing wealth by looting sand mines, liquor trade, transport and cable network.
“While administrative transfers by a government are understandable but the way the Akalis have affected these and that too at this time in the immediate aftermath of the elections results, only smacked of frustration and vengeance,” he said.