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Punjab governor Purohit quips at Bhagwant Mann for skipping ‘At Home’ event
The CM might have decided to forgo the event perhaps he is afraid of the ceremonial canons placed outside the Raj Bhawan, Banwarilal Purohit, Punjab governor
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s absence at the ceremonial “At Home” function organised on 77th Independence Day evening has not gone down well with governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Commenting on Mann’s absence, Purohit said: “His decision is in line with his own discernment; the chief minister might have decided to forgo the event perhaps he is afraid of the ceremonial canons placed outside the Raj Bhawan.”
The governor’s apparent reference was to the CM’s speech in the Vidhan Sabha in June in which he mentioned that canons are installed outside the Raj Bhawan to scare people away.
The ‘At Home’ reception is held at the Raj Bhavan’s on Independence Day evening and is attended by the CM, ministers, officers and other dignitaries for which invites are sent out.
Even as Mann skipped the event, Haryana governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and cabinet minister Aman Arora were present.
During the “At Home”, Purohit said invitations had been extended to dignitaries, including the Punjab chief minister. The chief minister’s office acknowledged the receipt of the invitation, he said, adding that the ceremony serves as an occasion for dignitaries from various walks of life to come together and strengthen ties.
Earlier, Mann had skipped the “At Home” on Republic Day this year, while he attended the event in August last year.
For last one year, Mann and Purohit have been at loggerheads over a raft of contentious issues, with the governor accusing Mann of not replying to his official communication seeking information on administrative matters. The latest flashpoint was the two-day special assembly session in June which passed four bills, one of them divesting the governor of powers to appoint vice-chancellors to state universities. Purohit had termed the session “patently illegal”, saying it violated the Constitutional provisions --- a stance contested by the AAP government.
In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, Purohit had accused the CM of making derogatory references to him in the last assembly session in June and said he would file a criminal complaint for assaulting the governor’s image against Mann if he makes similar insinuations outside the House.
In October last year, when Mann missed the reception held during the visit of President Droupadi Murmu at the Punjab Raj Bhawan, Purohit had said that “one has to fulfil one’s constitutional responsibility”.
