The report card prepared by Congress national president Rahul Gandhi after examination of the performance of Punjab Cabinet Ministers is expected to bring about startling results including the possible replacement of a Minister allegedly involved in a #MeToo controversy.
Available information suggests that Rahul Gandhi has suggested the ouster of Charanjit Singh Channi after holding a viva voce session with the party’s Punjab leadership on Thursday afternoon, including Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and the State party chief Sunil Jakhar.
Channi, who was given prominence within the party being a dalit leader, is expected to be replaced by another Dalit MLA Raj Kumar Verka. With this, a major reshuffle of the ministries is also on the cards.
However, the decision on finding Jakhar’s replacement as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president has been put on hold for now.
The expected reshuffle comes at a time when the Congress party is getting into the parliamentary poll mode.
Sources informed The Pioneer that detailed discussion on the performance of every Minister was held during the meeting, which was also attended by the party’s state affairs secretary in-charges Asha Kumari and Harish Chaudhary.
It has been learnt that considering Congress’ tough stand in MeToo allegations against the Union Minister MJ Akbar, Channi may be asked to go, despite Capt Amarinder’s assurance that the matter has been resolved to the “officer’s satisfaction”.
The issue of ongoing issues in the Education Department — teachers’ regularisation and history book row — was also emerged during discussion, but the Chief Minister said to have defended the Minister in-charge OP Soni.
Performance of two female Ministers — Razia Sultana and Aruna Chaudhary — was also deliberated upon, and it has been learnt that the two would be given new ministries.
Capt Amarinder has expressed satisfaction with the performance of Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Vijay Inder Singla, Manpreet Badal, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, among a couple of others. No information regarding Navjot Singh Sidhu’s performance has been shared by the sources.
During the hours-long meeting, the list regarding the names of the MLAs to be accommodated in the boards and corporations was also shared with Rahul Gandhi. It has been learnt that in the first round, the party would appoint 10 MLAs as heads of these government Boards and Corporations.
PPCC president Jakhar, after the meeting, said that discussion of state leaders campaigning in the three, out of five, poll-bound states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, was also held. Other than Chief Minister Capt Amarinder, Manpreet Badal, and Sidhu would be campaigning in these states.