Mann to Sidhu- whether Punjab Ministers get their salaries from the Congress exchequer; clarify
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab vehemently objected to the ruling Congress ordering its ministers to sit at the Punjab Congress Bhawan in Chandigarh and asked whether the Punjab ministers only belonged to the Congress. “If Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and all the Cabinet Ministers consider themselves the Ministers of entire Punjab and its people, then why don’t they sit in their official offices at the Punjab Civil Secretariat; where every petitioner, victim or needy person; without any discrimination or inferiority, can meet the concerned ministers.”
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Saturday, AAP Punjab state president and MP Bhagwant Mann while commenting on the orders of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu to give duty to the state cabinet ministers at Punjab Congress Bhawan said, “For four-and-a-half years, the ruling elites who have been sitting in their palaces and mansions enjoying the monarchy; have now in the run up to the elections been reminded of the grievances of the people, because these rulers have not listened to the people for four-and-a-half-years and now the people are refusing to listen to them. Even if the ruling party has decided to listen to the grievances of the neglected and harassed masses, it has limited the process to the Congressmen only, which is not right. By calling these non-Congress petitioners to Punjab Congress Bhawan, a new ‘Aurangzeb practice’ of forcible ‘Congressization’ of those victims is being introduced.”
Mann questioned whether the Congress would coerce the people of Punjab in this way or whether the ruling Congress would take advantage of the compulsion of the oppressed and let them pass through the doors of the Congress Bhawan, who does not like to take the name of the Congress party for political, social, religious, personal or any other reason? Bhagwant Mann said such narrow politics did not suit the cabinet ministers who were enjoying the privileges of Punjab exchequer.
The AAP leader further said if the Chief Minister and all the Cabinet Ministers get their salaries and all the facilities from the Punjab Pradesh Congress exchequer, then the Aam Aadmi Party and any non-Congress party should be allowed to sit in the Congress Bhawan of the ministers with no objection for public meetings. “However, the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu must make it clear to the people of Punjab, whether the Cabinet Ministers of Punjab get their salaries from the Punjab exchequer or from the Congress exchequer,” he added.
Bhagwant Mann said the Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers need to reconsider their decision. He said the ministers should perform regular duties in their offices at the Civil Secretariat and ensure that the Civil Secretariat is open to every petitioner or victim. Mann also advised that if ‘Darbar’ was to be set up then instead of Chandigarh Punjab Congress Bhawan, it should be set up at District Headquarters (DC Offices) where any needy person could reach out to the Congress Ministers; who for the last four-and-a-half-years not even remained far from the access of the people, but were rarely seen.
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