Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is trying hard to keep his men together. A day after the “lunch diplomacy” apparently failed to prove the best recipe for resolving the dispute between his Ministers and top bureaucrat, the Chief Minister has decided to convene a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The meeting comes in the wake of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s stand to discuss the issue once again with the Ministers as the decision to boycott the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh was taken unanimously by them.
Available information suggests that for the first time ever since the Covid lockdown, the Cabinet meeting will not be held on a virtual platform, but at the Punjab Civil Secretariat. Capt Amarinder will also be ‘physically’ present, instead via videoconference, for the meeting, expected to be attended by all the Cabinet Ministers, along with the Chief Secretary and Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Suresh Kumar.
Capt Amarinder has all along been making efforts to prevail upon his Cabinet and party colleagues to bury the hatchet with the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh for his clean record in the past and considering his impending retirement in August this year.
For the same, the Chief Minister had held two back-to-back luncheon meetings with the party leaders and some Cabinet Ministers — Manpreet, Charanjit Singh Channi, and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa — who have opened the front against the Chief Secretary, within a week’s time at the same venue — Capt Amarinder’s Siswan farmhouse.
The first one, held on May 21, was attended by the state Congress president Sunil Kumar Jakhar, Randhawa and three legislators — Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Pargat Singh, and Sangat Singh Gilzian.
Even as the Government had claimed that the meeting proved fruitful, the leaders had maintained that Chief Minister had assured to act in the matter.
A similar meeting was held a day before along with Manpreet and Channi, with another Cabinet Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari also in presence. Even as the Chief Minister wanted to invite the Chief Secretary for the Monday lunch, Manpreet refused the same.
During the meeting, Manpreet had categorically pushed the ball in the Chief Minister’s court saying that the decision on resolving the stalemate should be taken by the Ministers together as it was only their unanimous decision against attending any meeting of which the Chief Secretary would be the part.
In fact, the State Government had appointed the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Satish Chandra as the Cabinet Secretary to officiate the previous Cabinet meeting on May 11 after the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar was asked to stay away and he went on half day leave.
Now all eyes are on Wednesday meeting which would answer all the puzzles — whether the stalemate would come to an end? Whether the Chief Secretary would attend the Cabinet meeting along with all the Ministers? What would be the next move of the Ministerial trio of Manpreet, Channi, and Randhawa?
As per the official orders, the Chief Ministers, all Cabinet Ministers, Chief Secretary and Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister have been asked to “be present” for the Cabinet meeting at 3 pm.
CABINET MAY DISCUSS LOCKDOWN EXTENSION, OTHER ISSUES
Besides resolving of the deadlock between the executive and legislature, the Cabinet is also expected to decide upon the lockdown, which is concluding on May 31, along with others issues.
It is also expected that the Group of Ministers (GOM) constituted to decide on
Covid cess on liquor and related issues, besides the three-member officers’ panel to access the revenue loss due to closure of liquor vends during lockdown, would also table their respective reports during the meeting.
Notably, the Chief Minister had constituted a GOM, comprising Manpreet, Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla, and Housing and Urban Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, mandating it to consider the issue of levying a special Covid cess on sale of liquor, as has been done by certain other states in the wake of losses incurred due to the prolonged lockdown.