Ex-minister snaps 50-yr ties with Congress, also quits as Punjab Agro chief

Phagwara, January 14

Former minister Joginder Singh Mann, 72, today resigned from the Congress and as Chairman, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (Cabinet rank), thereby severing his 50-year-old association with the party.

Unhappy with scholarship scam

I have been having sleepless nights over the fact that career of thousands of SC students has been ruined due to usurping of funds meant for them. — Joginder Mann, Ex-Minister

In a letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, the three-time MLA from Phagwara, who served as minister in the Cabinets of former CMs Beant Singh, HS Brar, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Capt Amarinder Singh, said: “I had a dream that when I die, the Congress tricolour will be wrapped around my body, but with the party patronising the guilty of post-matric scholarship scam, my conscience doesn’t allow me to stay here.” Hitting out at the Congress leadership, Mann, a nephew of former Union Home Minister Buta Singh, said maharajas, landlords, moneybags and opportunist leaders such as Capt Amarinder Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and others came into the party for vested interests, due to which the party drifted from its core values and its focus shifted merely to grab power.

Mann is learnt to be in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party for a seat from Phagwara. The AAP has so far not announced a candidate from this reserved seat and had apparently been waiting for the Mazhabi Sikh leader to make a move. Mann, like other Phagwara leaders, has also been raising the issue of making Phagwara a district as the residents have to travel to Kapurthala district headquarters, 40 km away, to get their works done. —