Pressure mounts, Haryana minister Sandeep Singh on way out?

Pradeep Sharma

Chandigarh, August 27

Haryana’s Minister of State for Printing and Stationery Sandeep Singh, who is facing charges of molesting a woman coach, seems to be on his way out. With the chorus for his resignation getting louder, Sandeep Singh’s continuation on the post is snowballing into a major embarrassment for Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the BJP in the run-up to next year’s parliamentary and state Assembly elections.

Oppn to take up issue during session

• Retaining a ‘tainted’ minister may snowball into a huge embarrassment for the Khattar govt in the run-up to next year’s polls
• Oppn to target govt on the minister’s continuation in the Vidhan Sabha on August 28 and 29

Sources said after the filing of a chargesheet against the minister in a Chandigarh court recently, it was becoming increasing “untenable” for the Chief Minister to retain Sandeep Singh in his Council of Ministers.

While Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanded the minister’s resignation on “moral grounds”, senior vice-president of AAP Anurag Dhanda today shot off a letter to the Chief Minister urging him dismiss the minister.

In fact, the BJP-JJP government will come in the firing line of the Opposition in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha on August 28 and 29 for the minister’s continuation even after the filing of the chargesheet. The Opposition — the Congress and the INLD —had already announced that they would raise the issue during the ongoing monsoon session of the Assembly.

However, BJP’s state media head Sanjay Sharma termed the Opposition’s demand for the minister’s resignation “baseless”. “Only the chargesheet has been filed against the minister and he has not yet been pronounced guilty. The matter is sub judice,” he asserted.

A former captain of the Indian hockey team, Sandeep Singh, the only Sikh minister in the Khattar Cabinet, had resigned as the Sports Minister after the Chandigarh Police registered a case against him on the complaint of a woman coach. Sandeep Singh had repeatedly denied the coach’s allegations asserting that it was an attempt to tarnish his reputation.