Senior AAP leader and Patiala Rural MLA Dr Balbir Singh was on Saturday sworn in as the new Punjab Cabinet Minister soon after Fauja Singh Sarari resigned from the post after he was embroiled in a controversy over an audio clip in which he allegedly discussed ways to ''trap'' some contractors in order to ''extort'' money.
Balbir Singh was administered oath by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday evening in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Singh, an eye surgeon, had defeated senior Congress leader Brahm Mohindra's son Mohit Mohindra from the Patiala Rural seat in the assembly polls held last year. Earlier in the day, Sarari resigned from the Cabinet. AAP's Punjab unit spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said Sarari has resigned from the cabinet, citing ''personal reasons''.
Opposition parties in Punjab had been demanding that Sarari be sacked and arrested over the audio clip. Sarari, however, had rubbished allegations against him.
Sarari is the second minister to have been shown the exit door. The development comes seven months after the Punjab chief minister sacked health minister Vijay Singla for corruption.
Sarari was in charge of multiple portfolios including freedom fighter defense services and welfare, food processing and horticulture.
The AAP MLA from Guru Har Sahai was facing serious allegations of corruption after an audio clip allegedly of the Punjab minister had surfaced in September, barely two months after he had been inducted into the cabinet. It was alleged that the minister was talking over the mobile phone to his close aide Tarsem Lal Kapoor and discussing plans on how to extort money. However, Sarari had denied the allegations and filed a police complaint.
Mann had not taken any action against the minister despite facing criticism and the issue being raised in the state Assembly.
After the resignation of Sarari, Punjab's Leader of Opposition (LoP), Partap Singh Bajwa said it was due to the persistent pressure and sincere efforts of the main opposition Congress party in particular that forced the ruling party to bow down and made Sarari quit.
In a statement, Bajwa sought an immediate arrest of Sarari as he had already resigned from the post of minister in the Punjab Cabinet. "Since the alleged 'tainted' minister has already quit, a thorough probe from some central agency or a sitting judge must be initiated against him and he should be arrested with immediate effect. The matter of alleged corruption does not end with his resignation.", said Bajwa, adding that investigation from the Punjab agency will not be termed as impartial.
LoP said that Punjab CM Bhagwant is directly responsible for letting such a cabinet minister, whose audio clip went viral in which he and his close aid were heard discussing plans to extort money from a contractor, off scot-free for around four months.
"Meanwhile after his resignation, CM Bhagwant Mann owes an explanation about what made him shield Sarari for so long. CM Mann also owes a public apology on the same", said Bajwa.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also slammed chief Minister Mann for procuring the resignation of Sarari after being in cahoots with him for months ever since the release of the audio tape depicting the minister indulging in extortions. Terming the resignation as too little too late, the SAD demanded an impartial inquiry into the entire matter after the registration of a criminal case against the minister and effecting his arrest.
Asking the chief minister to tell Punjabis why he had encouraged the corrupt deeds of Sarari for months and even indulged in a cover-up operation, senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said “It seems they have fallen apart or the chief minister has finally felt the pressure of Punjabis who are reeling under the corrupt deeds of AAP ministers“.
Asserting that AAP was adopting double standards on corruption, Majithia said the party should first stem the rot within before pointing fingers at others.