Chandigarh, December 18
Mr Sanjit Kumar Sinha was today finally relieved of the post of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister as Captain Amarinder Singh instructed all members of his Council of Ministers to resume duty in the Civil Secretariat tomorrow.
The Chief Minister, who returned from New Delhi late this evening, remained closeted with minister and legislators for half an hour while promising to clean and tone up his Secretariat, besides making it congenial and friendly to party leaders.
Interestingly, Minister for Technical Education Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who had accompanied the five-member delegation of the dissidents to Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday, and Mr Ashok Sharma, also a dissident MLA from Gurdaspur, were present at the Chief Ministers’ residence here for the evening meeting.
Only a couple of days ago, the Media Adviser to the Chief Minister, Mr Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, had proceeded on three months’ leave. And today, the Punjab Government issued an order to relieve Mr Sanjit Kumar Sinha of the post of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and asked Mr Suresh Kumar, Special Principal Secretary to the CM to carry out the work of the Principal Secretary till further orders.
Talking to The Tribune, the Chief Minister said the current crisis had not only affected the functioning of the state Administration but also painted a bad image of the party to the great pleasure of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP.
“Dissidence of this type at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are just four to five months away was not in the best interests of the
party”.
