Channi says rulebook will decide new police chief after Sidhu rakes up issue once again
CHANDIGARH/MORINDA: Hours after Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu again demanded removal of director general of police (DGP) IPS Sahota and advocate general APS Deol from his own party’s government, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday said the new police chief would be appointed as per the laid-down procedure.
Channi said his government had already forwarded the names of IPS officers with 30 years of experience to the central government and was waiting for the panel of three names from them. “Thereafter, the name of the new DGP will be finalised in consultation with the PPCC chief (Sidhu), all ministers and MLAS. I have told Sidhu Saab and he already knows the names of the police officers,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a government function in Morinda. The state government has sent the names of 10 IPS officers to the Centre.
The chief minister’s statement was in response to a query on Sidhu’s repeated demands, which he reiterated on Sunday, for removal of AG and DGP appointed by the new administration. Sidhu, in a tweet, said the AG and DGP must be replaced otherwise they (ruling Congress) would have no face. “Demand for Justice in Sacrilege cases and for arrest of main culprits behind the drug trade brought our Govt in 2017 & Due to his failure, People removed the last CM. Now, AG/DG appointments rub salt on wounds of victims, they must be replaced or we will have No face!! (sic),” he posted on the microblogging site.
Sidhu had sent his resignation from the state chief’s post to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who did not accept it, a few days ago, raising questions over the two senior appointments and “tainted leaders”. The appointments of Sahota and Deol were said to be the last straw leading to his resignation as his choices for both these posts were ignored.
Sidhu has minced no words in his opposition to Sahota which stems from the fact that the IPS officer had led the first SIT constituted by the then Akali government to probe the 2015 sacrilege and police firing cases. Sahota had claimed to have cracked the case and even addressed a press conference, stating that the Bargari sacrilege incident was “a handiwork of some foreign handlers”. However, his claims of purported “foreign handlers” later fell flat.
The Punjab Congress chief, in a video last Wednesday, claimed that “those who tortured kids to give clean chits to the Badals were now being given plum posts”.
Though Sidhu and Channi then had a meeting on Thursday to discuss their differences and agreed to set up a coordination committee under a central leader for prior consultation on all major government decisions and appointments, their two-hour-long discussion does not seem to have had the intended effect as the state party chief continues to be in a sulk. The delay in setting up the coordination panel has also not helped.
On the issue of retiring government employees above 58 years, Channi said any employee who has attained the age of 58 would not be allowed to serve anymore so that the youth could be given a chance for government jobs.
IN A TWEET, SIDHU SAID THAT THE AG AND DGP MUST BE REPLACED OTHERWISE THEY (CONGRESS LEADERS) WILL HAVE NO FACE