Chandigarh, December 22
The “doubtful” veracity of the reports appearing in the media about the alleged immoral conduct of certain Punjab ministers in Gujarat notwithstanding, the squabbles between two power groups within the Chief Minister’s Secretariat have now come out in the open.

While one group has raised an “accusing” finger at its opponent threatening to take the matter to the party high command for disciplinary action, the other has been fighting with its back to the wall to deny any role in the “sordid controversy”.

The statement made the other day by Mr Surinder Singla, Chairman of the High-Powered Finance Committee, becomes significant as he wants the “source” responsible for “planting news stories about the alleged involvement of some ministers in immoral activities in Gujarat” to be identified and taken to task.

Though the Chief Minister has described it as a “cock-and-bull story”, it has failed to close the chapter. Instead, a whispering campaign has started for “naming the black sheep responsible for bringing a bad name both to the ruling Congress party and the state government”.

The issue is being discussed not only in the Civil Secretariat but also almost everywhere where two or more persons connected either with the Punjab Government or the Punjab Congress get together.

In fact one Punjab minister reportedly got so upset that he blasted one senior member of the CMO not only in the presence of the Chief Minister but also senior civil servants. The minister concerned was so upset at media reports as well as against those whom he held responsible for the “deliberate attempts to run him down” that he even “threatened” to quit demanding that the “wings of certain people in the CMO should be clipped”.

While one group holds the other responsible for “planting baseless news stories” in media to run it down, the latter has been claiming ignorance. At one stage, the Chief Minister had to ask his intelligence chief to make discrete inquiries from Gujarat before he announced at a press conference that all allegations were a “cock-and-bull” story and that the hotel staff were full of praise for the Punjab ministers for their very cooperative and exemplary behaviour.

One of the key figures in the whole episode has been a civil servant who refuses to be drawn into any controversy.