Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday inducted seven new ministers into his cabinet, including returnee Rana Gurjit Singh. Rana had resigned from the Amarinder Singh ministry in 2018 after facing criticism from the opposition over allegations of irregularities in the auction of sand mining contracts. At that time he held the Irrigation and Electricity departments. live update
He was re-inducted despite objections from a section of Congress MLAs – now close to former PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu – over his name for the ministerial post.
After that jerk move On Tuesday, sources close to Sidhu told CNN-News18 that Rana’s name was never in the list sent to the party high command, indicating a bigger conspiracy and a backhand power play. “Rana’s name was never there in the list sent to the Gandhi family. It was inserted at the last minute without informing Gandhi and Sidhu,” the Congress leader said.
Interestingly, Sidhu had said in his brief resignation letter addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi ‘Character’. He said in his letter to Sonia, “The downfall of a man’s character comes from a compromise corner, I can never compromise on the future of Punjab and the agenda of Punjab’s welfare.”
Hours before his joining, a section of Congress leaders from the state had also written to Sidhu demanding that the tainted former minister not be included. The leaders also demanded that the cabinet berth be filled by giving representation to a clean Dalit leader. A copy of the letter was also sent to Channi.
The letter was issued by former PPCC president Mohinder Singh KP, Sultanpur MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, Phagwara MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Jalandhar North MLA Bawa Henry, Chhabbewal MLA Raj Kumar, MLA Sham Churasi, Pawan Adia and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira. has written. Khaira had parted ways with the Aam Aadmi Party and had recently joined the Congress. We of Doaba would like to express great anger among the public and Congress workers over the proposal to include the undersigned MLA and leader tainted Rana Gurjit Singh.
“Needless to mention, he was dropped from the cabinet in January 2018 due to the infamous mining scam,” he alleged in the letter detailing the various charges leveled against Rana Gurjit at the time. “We wonder why Rana Gurjit Singh is being inducted into the cabinet as he was removed in January 2018 due to these allegations..,” he wrote. He also pointed out that despite the Doaba region having about 38 per cent Dalit population, no community leader has been given any representation in the proposed cabinet expansion.
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