AAP making scapegoat of IAS officers, says Punjab opposition

A day after two IAS officers were suspended by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government following the embarrassing U-turn on the dissolution of gram panchayats, the opposition parties in Punjab on Friday asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann and rural development and panchayats minister Laljit Singh Bhullar to own up the moral responsibility for the decision

Updated on: Sep 2, 2023, 24:40:01 IST

By HT Correspondent, Chandigarh

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A day after two IAS officers were suspended by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government following the embarrassing U-turn on the dissolution of gram panchayats, the opposition parties in Punjab on Friday asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann and rural development and panchayats minister Laljit Singh Bhullar to own up the moral responsibility for the decision.

Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa accused the CM of trying to protect himself and his minister. “It is shameful that @BhagwantMann who signed on the decision to dissolve the Panchayats has tried to scapegoat two bureaucrats to protect himself and his Minister. If CM had any morals, it is he who should own moral responsibility & resign forthright(sic),” the Congress leader posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal also slammed the government’s move to suspend two bureaucrats. “CM Mann and minister Bhullar were responsible for dissolving panchayats six months before their turn, and action should be taken against them instead of hapless IAS officers who were browbeaten into signing the relevant file. Both the CM and the minister should resign immediately,” Badal said in a press conference in Gurdaspur. Badal was attending Chhinj Mela at Babbehali village. “It is clear that all this was pre-planned to usurp ₹1,000 crore worth of panchayati raj funds”, he added.

Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar also castigated the state government and demanded that the CM must admit to this grave mistake and apologise to the people of Punjab. Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Jakhar said the decision could not have been arrived at by the bureaucracy which is now being blamed.

“The decision might have come to the Punjab IAS officers (now suspended) from the super chief minister from Delhi and these searing gaffes are a direct consequence of callous abdication of the constitutional responsibility enjoined upon an elected chief minister,” Jakhar said, taking an aim at AAP convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.