Punjab Cong in firefighting mode as ministers resent ‘poor’ show
Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 19
A day after Cabinet ministers targeted the Chief Secretary and the state bureaucracy for allegedly delaying decisions taken at the top level, the Congress government today pulled out all stops to assuage the feelings of resentful party leaders.
‘MLAs unhappy’
Many party MLAs are likely to express their unhappiness over the government functioning. The issue of nod to disbursal of Rs25 crore each to the MLAs for various works could also crop up at the CLP meet.—A leader
At the intervention of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Rs 25 crore out of the cane growers’ dues of Rs 140 crore was released by the Finance Department on Wednesday, said a senior government functionary.
Directions have also been issued to the department to implement the Cabinet sub-committee’s decision of upgrading Gurdaspur and Batala cooperative sugar mills. Cooperation and Jails Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa had raised both the issues, while slamming the Chief Secretary in yesterday’s meeting.
- Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who has already decided to renegotiate the power purchase agreements, is likely to bring a ‘white paper’ on the issue during the session.
Also, after the issue of reported delay in arrest of SAD leader Anwar Maish in connection with last month’s drug haul was discussed, the STF today arrested him. The Chief Minister is learnt to have met Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Randhawa and Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon to discuss certain important issues. In the afternoon, the Chief Minister held a meeting with Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh for almost an hour and listened to issues raised by the MLA in his letter addressed to the former, besides AICC president Sonia Gandhi and PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar.
Pargat had raised issues such as sacrilege cases, drug menace, illegal mining and financial crunch. The Chief Minister is learnt to have assured him of doing the needful on all these issues.
Apprehensive that rumblings in the state Congress could reflect in the Budget session beginning Thursday, a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) has been called by the Chief Minister ahead of the session. “Many party MLAs are likely to express their unhappiness over the government functioning. The issue of nod to disbursal of Rs 25 crore each to the MLAs for development works could also figure in the meeting,” said a leader. A senior party leader said sensing the mood of the legislators and the Opposition on the issue of faulty power pacts, the Chief Minister was expected make a crucial announcement on bringing power tariff down.
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