Disgruntled Pargat Singh meets Punjab CM, stresses need to improve performance

Chandigarh, February 19

Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Pargat Singh, whose letter indicting his own government for poor show in Punjab had appeared in the media recently, here on Wednesday met Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, underscoring the “need for improvement in performance”.

The chief minister had called the Jalandhar Cantonment legislator for a meeting at his residence after his letter, in which he claimed that the state government “failed” fulfil poll promises, was leaked in the media recently.

The letter, a copy of which was also sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the party’s Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar, was written about a month ago.

“I told the chief minister that people want the same CM which they had seen saw in the previous term during 2002-2007. People gave mandate on that basis in 2017,” said the former Indian hockey captain after the meeting.

The meeting between both the leaders lasted about 35-40 minutes.

The MLA said he told the chief minister that there was “a need for improvement in the performance of the government”.

“He agreed with me on most issues and acknowledged the need for improvement,” said Pargat Singh, who is a two-time MLA.

Singh said he told the chief minister that he did not know how his letter appeared in the media. “I said I do not know,” he said.

In his letter to the chief minister, the MLA had questioned the government’s effectiveness in tackling drug menace, sand mafia, corruption in the transport sector and the cases of the desecration of religious texts in 2015.

“Punjabis gave us a mandate in 2017 as they had your performance of your earlier tenure in mind. However, an impression is developing now that Punjabis are getting disappointed with the performance of the Punjab government,” he wrote.

“The main reason is that the drug menace has not been uprooted. Coffers of the Punjab government continue to remain empty,” he added.

Pargat Singh had joined the Congress before the 2017 assembly polls after quitting the Shiromani Akali Dal. PTI