A meeting called by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh with Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs from the state in which his bête noire Partap Singh Bajwa was to air his grievances has been deferred.
The meeting of MPs of all political parties was scheduled for Monday on issues of Punjab that can be raised in the winter session of Parliament.
Bajwa had last week expressed his displeasure over the working of Amarinder government. The Rajya Sabha member said he would raise issues related to Congress’ poll promises, particularly action against former CM Sukhbir Badal, ex-revenue minister Bikram Majithia, Akali leaders Tota Singh and Adaish Partap Singh Kairon at the meeting, which the CM was to preside.
Sources said that Amarinder decided not to attend the meeting and deputed his senior-most cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra to chair it. However, later the CM asked Mohindra to defer the meeting, said sources.
“The idea is clear... not to give Bajwa any platform which he can use to target the CM. Amarinder had already cleared his view point that there will be no vendetta politics,” said a party source, adding that only Congress MPs would be invited for the meeting.
CM’s media adviser Raveen Thukral said: “The CM is busy in Himachal election campaign.” On being asked why Bajwa was claiming that the meeting was scheduled for November 6, Thukral said: “There was no such meeting. A meeting of MPs will be held in mid-November.”
{{/usCountry}}CM’s media adviser Raveen Thukral said: “The CM is busy in Himachal election campaign.” On being asked why Bajwa was claiming that the meeting was scheduled for November 6, Thukral said: “There was no such meeting. A meeting of MPs will be held in mid-November.”
{{/usCountry}}In an interview to a news channel on Wednesday, Bajwa said he was not happy with the functioning of the Amarinder government. The Rajya Sabha member said “he cannot backtrack from his promise made to people before polls to jail former Akali ministers involved in various scams”.
Bajwa’s move came a few days after the CM said that “he believes Bikram Majithia could be involved in a drug case but there is no evidence to take action against him”.
However, CM downplayed Bajwa’s unhappiness with the government saying he had no idea what grudge he was nurturing. Expressing surprise over Bajwa’s behaviour, the CM said: “There had been no problems between the state government and any of the party leaders or MLAs.”
Bajwa could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts.