Rana Gurjit must go

EIGHT months after The Tribune exposed how people of meagre means but close to Punjab Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh had managed to secure sand mines in auction, the powerful Cabinet member has submitted his resignation. As it turns out, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has held on to the resignation letter since January 4 without letting anyone get wind of it. A chance to make the best of a bad situation was lost in May itself, when the Chief Minister could have scored some brownie points by “promptly” removing from the Cabinet a person whose integrity had come under question. By delaying acceptance of the resignation, he is compounding the mistake. There is nothing to consult in this with party president Rahul Gandhi. It is an open-and-shut case of moral shabbiness.

Instances of less-than-perfect conduct by members of governments should not surprise anyone. But in this case, it is Capt Amarinder Singh’s personal standing that is at stake. The reason for that is his well-known close ties with Rana Gurjit Singh, a man of resources. It is understandable that the Chief Minister may have found sacking Rana difficult precisely because he has a reputation that he stands by those who have stood by him. But a choice has become inevitable between obligations of personal friendship and preserving his own name; or worse, letting a tainted person have access to state’s resources. Besides accepting Rana’s resignation, the Chief Minister needs to institute a genuine inquiry — not the earlier eyewash — to see if any legal culpability is made out against the minister who seems to have dabbled in business with the government.

Embarrassments over distribution of resources and licences hit the Congress government in Punjab rather early this time. A lot of precious time and energy of the government, Assembly, and leaders of both the Opposition and the Congress have been taken up in levelling and countering allegations. It is time Capt Amarinder Singh stepped in to visibly put an end to the laissez-faire arrangement in government that every other person seems to be taking advantage of. The Rana distraction must end, and the task of governance be attended to.