Not my concern, I am here to serve: NRI Minister Dhaliwal on non-existent department row

Punjab Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal has been at the centre of a controversy after a Tribune report revealed that he headed the Department of Administrative Reforms, which never actually existed, for 20 months. Dhaliwal, who now only holds the portfolio of NRI Affairs, downplayed the issue, saying his focus is on serving Punjab, not on whether the department exists or not.

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Dhaliwal reacted to the Tribune report saying, “You must have read that they had wound up the department. As for me, I had returned from the US to serve Punjab and not take up any departments. These departments have no meaning to me. My only aim is to save Punjab and bring it back on track. It is up to the CM to take whatever kind of work he wants to take from me. The department’s existence is not my concern.” The minister was in Jalandhar at the inauguration of a seminar on ‘Punjab’s Global Migration’ in the office of NRI Sabha here.

However, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had a different response, claiming that the department’s nomenclature had simply been changed. The opposition has been quick to criticise the state government, with Union Minister of State and BJP leader Ravneet Bittu calling for Mann’s resignation.

Reacting to the Tribune report 'For 20 months, Punjab minister headed dept that never existed', opposition parties on Saturday took a jibe at the AAP government, saying this shows how much the AAP government was serious about governance.

“The comedian has made a comedy of himself. It would be better for him to take an exit or more such things would be revealed that he would not be able to face. The CM should stop befooling the public. He allocated a portfolio to his minister for which the state had no department. It was a fudged ministry, which Dhaliwal had been handling for 20 months. All this while, the minister had no secretary, no officials and no files going back and forth,” Bittu said in a video byte.

Not just Bittu but LoP Partap Bajwa and ex-Akali minister Bikram Majithia also hit out at the state government. Bajwa asked, “Did the CM’s Chief Secretary not tell the CM that this department had been wound up 36 months back? God save the people from this government.”

Majithia said, “The government has made a mockery of itself in this whole episode. Now the minister must tell as to which good work he had done for the state holding a non-existing portfolio for 20 months.”

BJP leader and Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijendra Gupta said, “The people of Punjab had voted for AAP, but its minister took 20 months to realise he was heading a non-existent department.”