The inclusion of the Badals’ names on the plaque for the Kartarpur corridor in Dera Baba Nanak has laid the foundation of a major controversy with the Punjab Cabinet Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa questioning his own government, and demanding action against the erring.
Randhawa, the state Cooperation Minister and Dera Baba Nanak MLA, on Tuesday shot of a letter to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar seeking probe into the gaffe.
A high drama prevailed on Monday hours before the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Capt Amarinder was to unveil the foundation stone for the Kartarpur Corridor on India’s side when Randhawa noticed the names of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal inscribed on the plaque—forcing the organisers to remove the ‘actual’ foundation stone, and replacing it with the digital one.
To show his protest, he covered his name along with that of Capt Amarinder, and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar with a black tape on the stone.
A day after, Capt Amarinder has supported the stand taken by his party. “The Congress MLAs were rightly aggrieved about the Badals’ names being on the foundation stone plaque...The Government of India is making the road and protocol prohibited the inclusion of Badals’ names,” he said.
As the Minister has formally taken up the issue with the Chief Minister Office (CMO) and holds significance, it is likely to be taken up for discussion during the next Cabinet meeting, scheduled for November 30.
Justifying his action, Randhawa insisted that the protocol should be followed. “I had raised the objection over the names of Badals included in the plaque as it is against the protocol. As per the protocol, the names of the Minister concerned, area MLA, area MP can be included, but no where the rules say that the names of former chief minister and deputy chief minister can be included,” Randhawa told The Pioneer.
Randhawa added that he would also file an RTI (Right to Information) application asking the administration regarding “what the protocol says, whether there was need to include these names on the plaque, and whether a disciplinary action will be taken against those who are responsible for the mistake”.
He said that he was the Minister in meeting and he was also the in-charge for the preparations of the event being the local legislator. “Neither any of the government official or the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) official informed me about whose names are being included,” he said.
“All that they told me that the CMO had seen that, and I will surely ask the Chief Minister why your officers have included these unconstitutional names,” he said.
At the same time, he questioned the “hurry” shown by the BJP-led central Government ti lay the foundation stone. “What is the hurry...obviously the credit war, which actually goes to Pakistan Government. It is they who agreed as we already have the road, and it is Pakistan who would build the road which would come up in the no man’s land,” said Randhawa.
He also appreciated Chief Minister for not writing anyone’s names on the foundation stones he recently laid in Sultanpur Lodhi and Dera Baba Nanak.
Randhawa added that if anything “unconstitutional” would happen in the presence of the constitutional heads, he would vigorously raise the issue.
“The event was to thank Guru Nanak Dev ji and there was no need for SAD MP and Union Minister Harsimrat Badal to raise a political issue...In my address, I thanked everyone right from Pakistan government to SAD leader Kuldeep Singh Wadala raising above the politics,” he said.