Pargat gets an audience with CM, tells him govt’s image has taken a hit

The former India hockey captain, who had a one-on-one meeting with Amarinder that lasted close to 40 minutes, informed the CM about his concerns, particularly failure to act against Badals

After his stinging letter, Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh on Wednesday told chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh that the state government’s performance in the first three years was hurting its perception in public.

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The former India hockey captain, who had a one-on-one meeting with Amarinder that lasted close to 40 minutes, informed the CM about his concerns, particularly failure to act against Badals, lack of proper investigation in corruption cases, and delay in reversing power purchase agreements (PPAs) with private players and finding a solution to ₹31,000-crore cash credit limit (CCL) gap, without mincing words.

Amarinder, who is making efforts to reach out to MLAs and hear their grievances to douse the bushfires of dissidence, had invited Pargat for the meeting after his four-page letter raising questions over the performance of the state government and alleged cover-up of major corruption cases was published in this newspaper on Monday.

Pargat said he took up all the issues which were flagged in his letter to the chief minister in the past two months and shared feedback on the performance of the state government. “I told him that people voted for the Congress in 2017 with Amarinder Singh of 1984 and 2002-07 (his first stint as CM) in mind, but the state government’s performance has been below expectations in public perception,” he told Hindustan Times, terming the meeting as “cordial”.

The two-time Jalandhar Cantonment MLA also told the CM that when he (Amarinder) sent Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf to (Shiromani Akali Dal leader) Sukhbir Singh Badal as gift to make him understand the dangerous implications of their (Akali and BJP) divisive politics, most people did not understand the message.

“I said we do not want such politics to take root in Punjab and must improve our performance. The CM said the government is doing a lot of things, specifically citing the solution reached for the CCL gap. We should tell the people about them,” he said. However, Raveen Thukral, media adviser to CM, described it as a “routine” meeting. “The chief minister met several ministers and legislators during the day and Pargat was one of them,” he said.

Pargat, considered close to former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu who quit the cabinet last year over differences with the CM, had written the “personal letter” on December 24, expressing displeasure over the working of the state government. When he did not get any reply or an audience from the CM, he followed it up with another letter on January 20, marking copies to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar, as the situation had not changed.