Rana Gurjit quits, CM yet to decide

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 16

Punjab Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh, in midst of a controversy after The Tribune exposed his “backdoor” attempts to bag sand mining contracts at an auction in May last year, has submitted his resignation to CM Capt Amarinder Singh, said sources.

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Capt Amarinder told The Tribune the minister had sent his resignation on January 4 and that he would discuss the matter with AICC president Rahul Gandhi on January 18 and then decide. 

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The Tribune had highlighted how four employees of the minister had bagged mining contracts during the e-auction of 89 mining sites. 

“When my name appeared in the controversy last year, then too I had offered to quit on moral grounds. I have submitted my resignation to the CM as he was being targeted by the Opposition through me,” said Rana Gurjit, who will continue to discharge his duties as minister till his resignation is accepted.

First The Tribune expose and then the ED summoning the minister’s son, Rana Inder Partap Singh, for allegedly raising funds abroad for a family-owned company without the requisite permission from the RBI, the Punjab CM was under increasing pressure to act. 

However, sources said the state leadership was in two minds on whether to accept the resignation at this juncture as it did not want Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rana Gurjit bete noire Sukhpal Khaira to take credit for the minister’s ouster. Briefed by the party Punjab affairs in-charge and the PPCC, the Congress high command had expressed its annoyance at the embarrassment caused to the party and its 10-month-old government in Punjab. Ever since The Tribune broke the scam, several MLAs and most Congress MPs had been building pressure on the CM to act against the minister.  When the CM returned from Agra after a vacation, it was conveyed to Rana Gurjit that he would have to put in his papers. An indication in this regard was given by the CM to some of his Cabinet colleagues.

Contractor Gurinder Singh, arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in a Rs 1,000-crore irrigation scam, allegedly financed the auction bids by the minister’s employees.

With SAD demanding Rana Gurjit be sacked for “acquiring sand and gravel mining contracts through benami transactions in the names of his cook and office staff,” a charge the minister has vehemently denied all along, the Amarinder government had set up Justice JS Narang Commission to probe allegations of impropriety against Rana Gurjit in the multi-crore mining auctions. The commission gave the minister a clean chit.

Looking back

The Tribune had on May 25, 2017, exposed how four employees of Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjit Singh had bagged mines. His cook Amit Bahadur got a mining site at Saidpur Khurd village in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar for Rs 26.51 cr, Kulwinder Pal Singh, a deputy general manager, got Mehadipur quarry for Rs 9.21 cr, Gurinder Singh got a quarry in Rampur Kalan village, Mohali, for Rs 4.11 cr and Balraj Singh bagged a contract at Bairsal village, Nawanshahr, for Rs 10.58 cr.