Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has called a special meeting of the cabinet Wednesday in the wake of the ongoing crisis between the Council of Ministers and the chief secretary.
Earlier this month, in an ugly one-of-its-kind spat, the entire Council of Ministers had walked out of a pre-cabinet meeting following an altercation between some of the ministers and the state’s chief secretary, Karan Avtar Singh, over alleged disrespect shown by the latter.
The ministers, led by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, even told the chief minister they would boycott the top official because of his “rude and wrong behaviour”.
The chief minister has called the special cabinet meeting at the civil secretariat at 3 pm, according to an official statement Tuesday.
Congress sources said the meeting has been called to resolve the crisis between the ministers and the chief secretary.
It isn’t, however, clear if the chief secretary will attend the meeting.
A minister, who didn’t want to be named, told ThePrint if the chief secretary attends the special meeting, they will decide on the spot Wednesday if the Council of Ministers will take part in the meeting.
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CM’s efforts to dissolve crisis
The crisis forced the chief minister to step in to assuage the Council of Ministers. To begin with, he divested the chief secretary of the additional charge of Financial Commissioner, Taxation, but that did little to calm the frayed nerves of his ministers.
The chief minister then on 21 May called minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring for lunch to sort out the differences. Both had been extremely vocal against the chief secretary.
On 25 May, the CM met Manpreet Badal and Technical Education Minister Charanjit Channi, again over lunch.
Talks of cabinet rejig to placate ministers
Sources in the ruling Congress told ThePrint some ministers have relented and in order to ensure that others also come on board, there are some talks going on for a cabinet reshuffle.
The opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, said the CMO’s move to go for a cabinet rejig is not just unethical but also unconstitutional, and an attempt to suppress the dissenting voices of the ministers.
In a joint statement Tuesday, AAP MLAs Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Jai Krishan Singh Rouri, Kulwant Singh Pandori and Manjit Singh Bilaspur said “it’s an attempt to gag the dissenting voices of the ministers through a cabinet reshuffle, which smacked of a well thought-out conspiracy of a corrupt, weak and manipulative regime of the ruling government”.
Also read: Punjab cabinet meeting scrapped as ministers walk out after ‘fight’ with chief secretary