M A I N   N E W S

All Punjab ministers submit resignations
Deputy CM Bhattal yet to resign
P.P.S. Gill
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 24
The Punjab Council of Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries have submitted their letters of resignation, signed individually, to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, at a dinner he had hosted here tonight, it is learnt.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who did not attend the dinner was expected to submit her resignation tomorrow.

The Tribune broke this story on June 23, which the Chief Minister had contradicted saying that there was ''nothing unusual'' in the hosting of dinner during the Vidhan Sabha session. Yet, the ministers submitted their resignations to enable him to reconstitute the Council of Ministers, according to the new law.

It is said as the ministers approached the Chief Minister to hand over their resignations, he said the dinner was not intended for this purpose. But, seemingly, a group of ministers had come prepared for this and the Chief Minister collected their resignations.

The same day, the Congress Chief Whip, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, too had issued a three-line whip to all MLAs and ministers to be present in the House on June 24 and 25 during the discussion on the Budget and voting on grands and appropriation Bill.

Sources told TNS that the Chief Minister was likely to go to New Delhi on June 27 for consultations with the Congress high command. It is believed that all MLAs, who were appointed chairpersons of boards and corporations were also expected to submit their resignations.

In Punjab, besides the Chief Minister there are 16 Cabinet-rank ministers, including the Deputy Chief Minister, eight Ministers of State and five Parliamentary Secretaries. Since the size of the Council of Ministers is to be 15 per cent of the total strength of the House, Punjab will have to drop eight ministers, said the sources.

In addition to the new law, the recent setback the Congress had received in the Lok Sabha elections, when the party could win just two out of the 13 seats had set the stage for a political reshuffle in the state.

There was also a running feud between Capt Amarinder Singh and Ms Bhattal. In this battle, even the PPCC President, Mr H.S. Hanspal, was one of the targets.

How free is the hand of the Chief Minister in retaining or dropping a minister will depend on his clout with the party high command.