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Petty politics on jobs used to target CM: MLA Bajwa
Fatehjang said that before the cabinet meeting, he had requested the CM to withdraw the agenda of job offer, but the government went ahead with the decision.
Chandigarh A day after declining the government job offer for his son, Congress MLA Fatehjang Singh Bajwa on Thursday slammed some of his party colleagues, including dissenting cabinet ministers, for using the government decision to target chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
At a press conference, the Qadian MLA, who has been under fire since the state council of ministers approved the decision last week, said that petty politics was played over the decision. He added that his family took a collective decision not to accept the job offer and that he had conveyed it to the party’s central leadership on Wednesday.
Last week, the Punjab council of ministers had approved a proposal to appoint Arjun Partap as an inspector in the Punjab Police and Ludhiana North MLA Rakesh Pandey’s son Bhisham Pandey as a naib tehsildar in the revenue department on “compassionate grounds”.
Cabinet ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhbinder Sarkaria, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Razia Sultana had opposed the decision during the meeting. Later, Jakhar had also strongly criticised the decision, stating that the party and the government would be accused of promoting nepotism.
Fatehjang said that before the cabinet meeting, he had requested the CM to withdraw the agenda of job offer, but the government went ahead. The MLA said his son, Arjun Partap Bajwa, has set a precedent by giving up the job offer. “(Punjab Congress president) Sunil Jakhar and cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria should follow the same precedent,” he said.
The Congress MLA said Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa’s son is the Gurdaspur zila parishad chairman, Sarkaria’s nephew is the chairman of the Amritsar zila parishad and Jakhar’s nephew is the chairman of Punjab State Farmers’ Commission.
He also slammed Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and other opposition leaders for politicising the issue.
Thanking the CM for the job offer, Arjun said the issue had been blown out of proportion. “It would have been a tribute to my late grandfather. There are many ways I can serve the people of Punjab,” he said.
