Punjab ministers call a truce after CS says sorry

CHANDIGARH: Punjab cabinet ministers buried the hatchet with chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh after the latter apologised to them in the cabinet meeting here on Wednesday.

The chief secretary tendered the apology to ministers, who were upset with his attitude towards them, in the presence of chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh at the start of the cabinet meeting.

Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi and others accepted the apology and called a truce, ending the 18-day-long deadlock. Manpreet Badal and Channi were among the first to seek the 1984-batch IAS officer’s removal.

The unprecedented row between the ministers and the chief secretary had started when they had a showdown at a precabinet meeting on May 9.

After Wednesday’s meeting,

Manpreet Badal said that when the cabinet met, the chief minister said the chief secretary would like to make a statement. He said the CS then walked in and apologised for his conduct at the May 9 pre-cabinet meeting, assuring the ministers that this would never be repeated in the future.

“This is the third time the CS has apologised for his behaviour. He first apologised to me personally on the day of the incident, then when he had come to Badal village after my father passed away, and now in the cabinet meeting today. The apology was accepted in the spirit it was given,” he said.

The finance minister said the cabinet ‘unanimously’ decided to let bygones be bygones. “We are also not angels and humans are prone to making mistakes. If someone apologises thrice and you don’t accept it, then it reflects arrogance. This chapter is over now” he said.

Asked about a controversy created by the ruling party MLAS regarding the alleged business interests of the chief secretary’s family, the minister said though the issue was not discussed in the cabinet meeting, he was given to understand that the chief secretary had given in writing that his son was not in the liquor business in Punjab.

Before the cabinet meeting, Amarinder, several ministers, including Manpreet and the chief secretary met in the chief principal secretary to chief minister (CPSCM) Suresh Kumar’s room in the civil secretariat.

We are also not angels and humans are prone to making mistakes. If someone apologises thrice and you don’t accept it, then it reflects arrogance. This chapter is over now MANPREET SINGH BADAL, state finance minister