Chandigarh, December 16
“We will not accept it. This has come too late. They should have done it the day it was approved by the Council of Ministers more than a year ago,” said Mr Tej Parkash Singh, Transport Minister and a dissident, while reacting to the State Government’s decision to give “Cabinet Minister status for life” to Mrs Jaswant kaur, widow of late Chief Minister Beant Singh, as a series of serious events started unfolding in Punjab politics late tonight.
The Media Adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr B.I.S. Chahal, has proceeded on three months leave and the government has decided to relieve Mr S.K. Sinha of the charge of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. A decision about a new Principal Secretary is expected in a day or two.
The government also decided to grant status of Cabinet Minister for life to Mrs Jaswant Kaur, widow of late Chief Minister Beant Singh.
The views expressed by Mr Tej Parkash Singh’s were echoed by his sister, Mrs Gurkanwal Kaur, also an MLA.Both Mr Singh and Mrs Gurkanwal Kaur have thrown their weight behind the dissidents in the current political crisis facing the ruling Congress party.
Both Mr Tej Parkash Singh and Mrs Gurkanwal Kaur initially expressed their ignorance about the orders being issued by the Chief Secretary this afternoon and held that this last minute effort to woo them to the Chief Ministers’ camp would not work.
Sources revealed that offers were made to make Gurkirat Singh, grandson of Mr Beant Singh, President of the Punjab Pradesh Youth Congress Committee, besides giving a Cabinet berth to Mrs Gurkanwal Kaur.
“We are solidly with our group and will stay with them till our demand is conceded by the High Command,” said Mr Tej Parkash Singh in a telephonic conversation with The Tribune.
“This offer at this stage means nothing to us,” he said holding that it has lost its significance because of its timing. “It was neither done in time nor gracefully,” he added.
Though the Punjab Finance Minister, Mr Lall Singh, told The Tribune that both the groups would be moving back to Chandigarh tomorrow morning, the dissidents dismissed the move as a “total mischief” holding that none from their group would go back tomorrow.
Mr Lall Singh confirmed that Mr S.K. Sinha, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, had been shifted while media Adviser, Mr Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, had been asked to proceed on long leave.
When contacted Mr Chahal confirmed that he had proceeded on three months’ leave because of “personal reasons” and that he was on his way back to Chandigarh from New Delhi.
He described as mere rumours that he was “fleeing the country. I am not Saddam,” he said holding that he or some member of his family may go to Canada for a family function there.
“But I have no such immediate plan,” he added.
Though there were reports that the Chief Minister had invited all members of the Congress Legislature Party to a dinner in Chandigarh on Wednesday night, the “dissidents” denied knowledge of any such invitation and held that there was “no question of our joining the dinner as we are staying put in New Delhi” till the High Command tells
us.
