Jobs for kin: Day on, nine ministers, 4 MPs rally behind Capt Amarinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

The controversy surrounding the Punjab Congress over the Cabinet decision to give jobs to the sons of two MLAs intensified further today with nine ministers and four MPs coming out in support of the Capt Amarinder government.

• Also read: Pargat Singh calls it case of horse-trading

On Friday, the Cabinet had decided to offer government jobs to the sons of MLAs Fateh Bajwa and Rakesh Pandey. Sources said the party high command had taken a serious note of the job offer to the affluent MLAs.

Yesterday, PPCC president Sunil Jakhar and some MLAs had demanded that the Cabinet decision be rolled back as it was against the ethos of the party. The appointments were not based on merit, they had claimed.

In a joint statement issued by ministers Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Vijay Inder Singla, Aruna Chaudhary, Sunder Sham Arora, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Balbir Singh Sidhu, OP Soni and Bharat Bhushan Ashu; and Members of Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Jasbir Singh Dimpa and Mohammad Sadiq today, the collective decision of the Cabinet to give government jobs to sitting MLAs’ sons was termed correct and in line with appointments made in similar cases in the past.

Lal Singh, Chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, also came out in support of the decision and advised all Congress leaders to refrain from making any statement that could potentially weaken the party.

Besides Jakhar, those who had opposed the Cabinet decision yesterday included Cabinet ministers Razia Sultana, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjeet Singh Channi; MLAs Kuljit Nagra and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring; and state youth Congress president Brinder Dhillon.