Ministers seek action against Bajwa for ‘revolt’

CHANDIGARH: ALL 16 Punjab ministers on Tuesday demanded disciplinary action by the Congress leadership against Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa for raising a banner of revolt against chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on public platforms.

The ministers sought action, in one voice, when the issue came up for informal discussion just before the cabinet meeting here, according to an official statement.

Though Bajwa, who has been at loggerheads with Amarinder for a long time, keeps taking digs at the chief minister’s style of working from time to time, the ministers’ demand for disciplinary action has been prompted by his stinging remarks in an interview two days ago. Bajwa had said that he would not support Amarinder’s leadership for a second term unless action was taken in sacrilege cases.

The ministers said that despite repeated pleas asking him to express his opinions within the party forum, Bajwa continued to criticise Amarinder and his government in media and other places. The ministers accused Bajwa of playing into the hands of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by pitching himself against his own party leadership, especially at a time when the entire opposition was in a state of disarray, posing no real challenge to the Congress in the state.

“Such rebellion, if not nipped in the bud, could send the wrong message down the rank and file of the Punjab Congress,” it said, quoting the ministers.

Sports minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi said it was imperative to act against Bajwa as such behaviour would weaken the party.

“We cannot allow this to become a free for all,” said technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi, while local government minister Brahm Mohindra wanted the chief minister to take up the issue with the Congress high command in Delhi. Any dissent should be discussed and resolved within the party forum, said Mohindra.

Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said: “We succeeded in winning so many seats in Punjab only because we were united,” he said, adding that this unity could not be allowed to be destroyed at any cost.

Om Prakash Soni, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa also termed the Rajya Saba MP’S actions as extremely damaging for the party. Other ministers Aruna Chaudhary, Razia Sultana, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukhjinder Singh Sarkaria, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Vijay Inder Singla, Sunder Sham Arora and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, were in total agreement with their colleagues in seeking urgent intervention by the party high command in the matter, said the official release.