M A I N   N E W S

Punjab MLAs complain of shabby treatment
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 7
Ruling Congress MLAs today made it clear to the President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, that they were shabbily treated by officials posted in various districts and their writ did not run in the state.

Mr Dullo had called a meeting here of the party MLAs, Ministers and candidates who were defeated in the last Assembly elections to get a feedback from them and discuss the next Assembly poll strategy. However, the meeting turned into a platform for MLAs and certain defeated candidates to air their grievances.

The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, was also to attend the meeting. But he did not turn up. Mr Dullo said the Chief Minister had gone to attend an important function in Ludhiana where his counterpart from Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was also expected. Mr Dullo said the Chief Minister had informed him about his visit to Ludhiana last night.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Dr Kewal Krishan, also did not attend the meeting because they were abroad.

Among those who did not mince words at the meeting were Mr Bir Devinder Singh, Mr Gurchet Singh Bhullar and Mr Gurcharan Singh Dirba. In fact, even Ministers came under attack. Certain MLAs complained that Ministers were encouraging their opponents and visited their constituencies without informing them. “ There is gross indiscipline in the party and senior leaders spare no opportunity to let MLAs down in the eyes of the public”, said a number of MLAs at the meeting. They also said that though there had been a lot of talk to root out corruption at the lower level it had gone up manifold. Mr Bhullar said he had been ignored while posting officials in his district.

There were certain Ministers who in a subdued way said that they were also ignored by the bureaucracy. However, all MLAs and most of the Ministers appreciated the initiative taken by Mr Dullo with regard to today’s meeting.

MLAs urged that such meetings should be held twice a month to enable them to speak their mind on what was happening at the grassroots level. Today’s meeting of MLAs and Ministers was called after two years.

MLAs complained that though the state government had been claiming that it had done a lot for the people in the past three years, the message had not reached people in villages. They said government’s publicity machinery had failed to propagate the government’s achievements.

When certain speakers tried to make personal comments against government functionaries, Mr Dullo told them not to do so and only confine themselves to the agenda of the meeting.

Responding to points raised by MLAs, Mr Dullo, said he would not tolerate any indiscipline in the party and would take action immediately against those found violating the party’s rules and regulations. “ Even the mightiest in the party found resorting to indiscipline will not be spared”, he asserted. He said a coordination committee would be set up to ensure functional smoothness between the party and the government.

Meanwhile, addressing a Press conference after the meeting, Mr Dullo, said there would be no change in the leadership of the government in Punjab. “ Capt Amarinder Singh was doing well as Chief Minister”, he added. “ I am happy with the performance of the government”, he claimed.

He said the state government had started implementing the party manifesto that was approved by Mrs Sonia Gandhi. He gave the instance of free power to farmers in this regard. Even the payment of old-age pensions, and the distribution of money under the shagun scheme had been regularised, he added.

He said the government had extended the benefit of free power to poor sections of society on his recommendation. Though MLAs complained against the bureaucracy, Mr Dullo said that officers had now started attending to problems which were highlighted by party workers.

He said he would not allow “moneybags” to capture the party and would give the common party worker due credit.