One cannot miss the hoardings depicting the entire landscape of former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, traveling from Chandigarh to Chamkaur Sahib and Ludhiana.
Actually, there is a road on the road just near the residence of new CM Charanjit Singh Channi in Kharar. For years, Captain has been the only face of the Congress in the hoardings of Punjab. He stares at you in advertisements behind every Punjab Roadways bus. But it is likely that by the time you read this report, these hoardings would have been replaced by new hoardings featuring Charanjit Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Read also: Journey of Punjab Politics from Captain’s Farm House to Channi’s Tent House
The new government is moving swiftly to remove the hoardings of Captain and some hoardings have already been removed in Ludhiana. A local politician from Ludhiana told News18 that the effort seeks to address the “source of anger among the people”. On 22 September, Punjab’s transport department also ordered that the Captain’s advertisements be removed from state buses and replaced with photographs of Channi as he is now the new chief minister.
“All the election campaign hoardings will have two faces – Channi and Sidhu,” a source told News18, adding that there are hundreds of hoardings of the Captain across the state praising the various ‘achievements’ of his government. A former minister close to the Captain said that the former CM is being further insulted by such acts.
Cleanliness in bureaucracy, cabinet too
The bureaucracy and the political class are also being cleaned up, with Capt’s loyalists expected to outdo it. Sources said leaders like senior minister Brahm Mohindra were dropped at the last minute from the post of deputy CM over Sidhu’s objection and that at least four other ministers loyal to Amarinder may not find a place in the new cabinet, whose The announcement is to be made later this week. In Congress told News18 in Chandigarh.
Bureaucratic changes can start from the top and DGP Dinkar Gupta and his wife and Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan are under scanner. There may also be a major reshuffle of district SSP and DC.
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“In the next three-four months, before the Model Code of Conduct comes into force, the government will have to move at a break-neck pace to fulfill various promises. Very soon big steps will be taken – be it in cases of sacrilege, scrapping power purchase agreements (PPAs) or big fishing in the drug trade – with a new team of police officers and bureaucrats most likely to do so. It’s good. “Instead of sticking with a team that didn’t perform well in the earlier years,” said a Congress leader close to the Sidhu camp.
Another source argued that “it is best not to have a mole in the system” that leaks secret information to Captain Camp.
captain not impressed
These moves appear to be in stark contrast to the Congress’ official stand that the party had expected Captain Amarinder Singh to act in the role of “guardian”. The mistrust on both sides clearly runs through and the Captain in a statement on 22 September accused Sidhu of being a ‘super CM’ and undermining Channi by his apparent interference in Channi’s domain as CM.
Read also: Won’t speculate but have welcomed his nationalist statements: Punjab BJP chief on Amarinder Singh
“Sidhu is literally stipulating the terms by nodding with Channi. I had a very good president (Sunil Jakhar) of PPCC. I followed his advice but he never told me how the government was run,” the captain said. He said if Sidhu behaves as a “super CM”, the party will not work. “Under the leadership of this drama master, it will be a big deal if the Congress is able to touch the double digits in the Punjab elections,” the Captain said in a statement on Wednesday.
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