Chandigarh: Shortly after 2011 batch IAS officer Parampal Kaur joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann warned the Punjab cadre officer that she would ‘lose her lifelong earnings’ if she failed to adhere to the proper resignation protocols.
Kaur, along with her husband Gurpreet Singh Maluka, joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Kaur is the daughter-in-law of senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former cabinet minister Sikander Singh Maluka. She is expected to be fielded by the BJP in the prestigious Bathinda seat.
Kaur had put in her papers last week, seeking voluntary retirement from the IAS last week, but her resignation is yet to be accepted by the CM.
Dr. Jahanzaib Sirwal, former IAS Parampal Kaur & Shri Rohan Gupta join the BJP in New Delhi. https://t.co/33ldxfzCly
— BJP (@BJP4India) April 11, 2024
In a post on X in Punjabi, Mann wrote: “You were in a tearing hurry to become an IAS officer…there is a certain manner to tender resignation…kindly understand the correct manner in which one has to resign…otherwise lifelong earnings may be at risk.”
Kaur was posted as managing director of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation and was due to retire at the end of October this year.
Apart from sending her resignation to the chief secretary for approval, she had also sent her resignation to the department of personnel and training (DoPT), government of India. The chief secretary had forwarded her resignation to the chief minister, where it is pending his consideration.
Sources said that the government of India has, in the meantime, accepted her resignation.
At the time of joining the party, Kaur said that this is her first foray into politics and it was important that she choose the right party.
“The kind of development that the country has done in the past 10 years is unparalleled, and I believe that the future of this country is bright under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Kaur, adding that other parties lacked both a vision and a blueprint for the future.
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Who is Parampal Kaur
In the past, Parampal Kaur has served the Punjab government as block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) in the 1990s. When Maluka was education minister in the Akali regime between 2012 to 2017, she had invited controversy in 2013 while posted as additional project director in the office of the director general of school education (DGSE). Her file was first moved to the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) for direct induction into the Punjab Civil Services (PCS), but then withdrawn from the PPSC and sent to UPSC for direct induction into IAS.
Kaur was then nominated into the IAS in 2015 from the non-PCS officers’ quota by the Union public service commission.
Gurpreet Maluka was unanimously chosen as Zila Parishad chief of Bathinda district in 2013 during the SAD-BJP regime.
The Bathinda seat is a significant one for SAD. It is currently held by former Union minister Harsimrat Badal, wife of party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal. Sikandar Maluka was the election in-charge for several years for Harsimrat Badal, who has represented the seat thrice. Although he has made it clear that he will not be leaving the Akali Dal, the fact that his daughter-in-law might be the BJP candidate from Bathinda is expected to put him in a difficult position within SAD.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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