Badals take oath, say Akalis will oppose law on CPS appointments
CHANDIGARH: Punjab’s former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said on Monday that the Akalis would oppose the proposed legislation on appointment of chief parliamentary secretaries (CPSes) to be brought in by the ruling Congress.
The legislation would pave the way for appointment of CPSes by the chief minister by getting around the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court that had declared the post invalid in August 2016.
Badal was talking to mediapersons after taking oath as an MLA in the office of the assembly speaker on Monday afternoon. Accompanied by his son and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal — who also took oath in the speaker’ room — Badal said his government had accepted the “fatwa” of the courts and removed all CPSes.
The Badal government during its second term had appointed 21 CPSes to begin with, out of whom 18 were in service when the HC orders came in August. All 18 had to be removed followed by another six who had been appointed during the period between the filing of the petition praying for their removal and the final orders.
“The Congress manifesto says that it would reduce expenses of the government and follow austerity measures. Then why have the post of CPS? When we had appointed CPSes, the Congress was the first to criticise us,” added Sukhbir.
The former chief minister said a law should be brought in to make it legally binding on every political party to fulfil its manifesto. “We will give the Congress some time to show results. It could be six months. After that we will start questioning them about their promises to the people. They cannot start saying that the state coffers are empty and they don’t have money to fulfil their promises,” said Badal.
On the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, Badal said the present government should make sure that the interests of Punjab are carefully guarded. “Give them time. If they fail, we will make sure we stand up for the cause,” he said.
BADALS TO SKIP REMAINING SESSION
The Badals will not attend the rest of the assembly session that ends on Wednesday. Former CM Parkash Singh Badal informed the speaker that he had a broken rib and was not well.
His son and former deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal said he had to be in Delhi for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) polls followed by the civic body elections there.