M A I N   N E W S

‘Things had gone too far’
Naveen S Garewal/TNS

It is now clear that the sacking of Manpreet was not a decision that was taken on the spur of the moment. Manpreet had exploited the soft corner Chief Minister had for him as he got a reprieve for himself by drafting a statement on behalf of the CM himself and releasing it to the Press. The statement had said: “…his (Manpreet’s) explanation was acceptable and his behaviour did not amount to indiscipline…”.

Having released the statement, Manpreet pushed his luck further and held a press conference in defiance to the Chief Minister’s directions and accused senior Akali leaders of bullying him.

At this point, the Chief Minister’s mind was made that Manpreet would now have to go.

Post-Manpreet’s exit, party leaders who were tight-lipped have opened out their heart and came out openly against what they call Manpreet’s style of functioning. They now say he was in the habit of proving himself, “different from others”, indirectly denigrating the whole cabinet. He would show that he was not part of the herd and he preferred to charter his own course and it might come in confrontation with the known policy of the SAD.

The leaders were of the view that Manpreet d has antagonised all sections of society, which could be politically suicidal for the ruling combine with the Vidhan Sabha Elections looming large in February 2012.

He had antagonised all sections of employees by firstly delaying the implementation of fifth pay commission report and than partly accepting the report after pressure from the Chief Minister. Strangely in northern India, Punjab is the only state that has not given arrears of enhanced pay to the employees where as employees of all states, including Himachal, Haryana, Chandigarh and Rajasthan have got it long ago.

The leadership feels that he often created a controversy before the announcement of any proposed package and political benefit the ruling combine wanted to derive from the package would get lost in the din of controversy. Senior Akali leaders were critical of him for not ensuring timely funds for welfare scheme for the poor forcing the government to face flak from its vote bank.

Those who did not utter a word before now say that the government was on the back foot in every assembly session feeling difficult to wriggle out of embarrassing questions of non-payment of benefits to the beneficiaries. The field level leaders also mounted the pressure as non-payment of benefits was putting them in piquant position in facing the party cadre.