Cong leaders get VIP treatment at ceremony

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, January 11

Even though the Congress government had made efforts to end the VIP culture, it seems to be prevalent in the state.

For instance, some VIPs, holding positions in the Congress, on Friday took oath from the stage at Guru Gobind Singh Sports Stadium here. Though all other newly elected members of the zila parishad, panchayat samitis and village panchayats were seated on chairs at the ground, some VIPs took the oath from the stage, standing alongside Cabinet Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Deputy Commissioner MK Aravind Kumar. These included Karanbir Singh Brar, general secretary, PPCC, who is the grandson of former Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar; Bhinder Sharma, unanimously elected sarpanch of Jhabelwali village, who is the Muktsar block president of the Congress; Sharanjit Sandhu, unanimously elected sarpanch of Sadarwala village, who is the chairman of the Congress Kisan Cell, Muktsar district; and Harbhagwan Singh ‘Raja’, sarpanch of Bhullar village.

On this, Sharanjit Sandhu said, “I am the office-bearer of the Congress and was invited on the stage for today’s function. There is nothing wrong if I and some other office-bearers take oath from the stage.”

Questioned on the VIP culture, Kangar dashed the query by saying that nothing such came to his notice. “All newly elected members of panchayati raj institutions were given due respect,” he said.

A few Congress leaders, who do not even hold any constitutional post, were also present on the stage.