With the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann constituting a temporary committee to advise the state government on issues of public importance, the Opposition on Saturday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of ‘outsourcing’ and ‘sub-letting governance’ to its true masters.
Senior Akali leader Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra said the AAP in Punjab is setting up “a government above the government” in the form of an advisory committee. He described the Advisory Panel move as an “ unconstitutional, unethical and politically dishonest” trick to subvert the mandate of the people.
“That the AAP government in Punjab is not being run from Punjab is one of the worst kept secrets in the state and the country,” the SAD leader said, adding Bhagwant Mann is heading merely a proxy government.
He said that Punjabis who voted for AAP “with great enthusiasm and fanfare are already feeling betrayed. What saddens Punjabis the most is that the party to which they gave an unprecedented mandate has neither the capacity nor a mind of its own. Worse, it lacks the will to govern and to serve the people. It is functioning merely as a cover for running Punjab from Delhi.”
The Akali leader said that his party and the people of Punjab have strong reservations over this “political and constitutional fraud” as it will lead to the surrender of Punjab’s pride and its crucial interests.
Prof Chandumajra said having advisors is nothing uncommon for a CM and this CM and this govt already have many. “Then why would they need a committee like this which no government in the past, not even the AAP government in Delhi, has ever felt the need for? Everyone, even in the AAP Punjab unit, already knows what this committee is about,” he added.
Questioning the move, the Leader of Opposition in Assembly and Congress leader, Partap Singh Bajwa said Mann will appoint a Delhi-based AAP leader nominated to Rajya Sabha from Punjab as its chairman which is a direct reflection of the incapability of the CM to protect the interests of every Punjabi.
The Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said there are strong apprehensions among people that the elected government will be made subordinate and subservient to the proposed committee.
As per the notification issued to constitute the temporary advisory committee, it will advise the state government “on matters of public importance pertaining to Public Administration as and when such advice is sought from it.”