Chandigarh
26 September 2021
DIVYA AZAD
Expressing displeasure with the Congress high command’s decision of denial of berths in the State cabinet to them, two senior state Congress leaders & former cabinet ministers – Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Balbir Singh Sidhu on Sunday said that they have been subjected to gross injustice despite giving their best performances as ministers.
“As Power and Revenue Minister, I brought things back on track by working day and night. The Power Department was in disarray, which was streamlined. Today Punjab is ranked among one of the top states in power management. Similarly, there were multiple leakages in collection of revenue, which were plugged despite colossal resistance from nefarious forces. I have been subjected to gross injustice,” said Kangar.
Listing his achievements as the Health Minister, Sidhu said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, “I ensured that health systems work efficiently. I worked day in and day out to ensure that people of the state do not face any problems. In the past years, we streamlined health infra at the grassroots level. This is not the way to treat committed party workers like us who have given the best of their life to serving the cause of the party,” said Sidhu.
The two former ministers have written to the high command to express their displeasure at being left out of the Punjab cabinet which was sworn in today. They have asked the reasons due to which they were ignored by the high command. They said that they are with Chief Minister Shri Charanjit Singh Channi. “We supported former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder as advised by the high command. Now we will work along with the new CM as per the instructions of the party high command,” they said. “If the high command would have asked for our resignations, we would have resigned on our own. What has been done is quite embarrassing and humiliating as well,” said Kangar, adding that his loyalty towards former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has cost him dearly, which is not fair as every soldier has to be loyal to his commander.
“Now, as a Congress soldier, I owe my allegiance to the present Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. But if the loyalty to the party causes the kind of outcome that has happened in my case in the Congress, then it is really sad. The high command should answer why I have been ignored despite so many achievements. I was responsible as the Revenue Minister for computerizing land records,” said Kangar.
Former Health Minister Shri Balbir Sidhu said that the work done during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic under him was even recognised by the Central government, which praised the model created by me.
