Criticising the SAD-BJP Government’s move to appoint seven new Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, the Opposition parties on Tuesday described the move as “unconstitutional” and “extra burden on the State exchequer”.
“It is just a joke with the democratic system,” said the State leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi.
Reacting sharply to this move, Channi said that the total tally goes up to 25 CPS, which is totally unconstitutional. “Moreover, the government is financially bankrupt. Under these circumstances, appointing more CPS shows the real face of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal that how much they actually concerned with the pain of Punjab,” he said.
Channi said: “The Vidhan Sabha elections are around the corner, and the Badals have smelled a big revolt in the party. Just to minimize it and avoid the harassment, the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister have gone for this exercise of expansion just trying badly to keep their flock together.”
He said that the army of 25 CPS actually sits idle and they don’t contribute anything for the betterment of the State. “No official work or file is ever sent to these CPS, that’s why it is a purely unconstitutional and the Government should revert it back,” he demanded.
Former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, blasting the cash-strapped Parkash Singh Badal in touching new low in governance with the decision to induct seven CPS, said that the Government had “no moral right to take such decisions with few months remaining”.
“With a few months to go for Assembly elections, Chief Minister Badal is out to make a mockery of everything that goes by the name of governance and people themselves. Here is a Government that is mired deep in scandals and tops among all other States for the use of ways and means account for meeting day-to-day needs,” he said.
He added that the State Government proposes to use Rs 19,500 crore from ways and means account during the current fiscal and this is the highest ever. “The Government is dependent on this account for 315 days in 2015 going by the Reserve Bank figures. The Government is dependent on this account for its basic functioning. It is tragic that the Government, that is facing such bankruptcy, is appeasing its MlAs in its last few months at the cost of public exchequer,” he said.
Manpreet said that it was apparent that this Government had lost all sense of shame so far as such looting of the public money is concerned. “Here is a State where on an average two farmers and farm workers are committing suicide but the Government has turned totally immune to the plight of the people,” he said.