Amid the ongoing stand-off between Ministers and Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh in Punjab, not only the Opposition but even a Congress leader on Tuesday took the government to task by pointing fingers at the prevalence of “liqour mafia” in the State.
While the former Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the “ministers-bureaucrat confrontation” has led to a complete administrative paralysis in the State, Congress Member of Parliament Partap Singh Bajwa asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to initiate a probe into the allegations over “liquor mafia”.
“Punjab government is at war with itself, leading to an utter collapse of the government machinery,” said Mr. Badal.
He said, “...at the core of this collapse is a fight over grabbing liquor mafia benefits. Ministers should stop making a laughing stock of themselves by refusing to sit with this or that officer and come clean on what exactly is their complaint against the officer. But the issue seems to be much more than ego. It is about corruption.”
Mr. Bajwa took to Twitter on the issue and asked the Chief Minister to initiate an inquiry.
“Given that the Govt has constantly failed in meeting the Excise Deptt.’s revenue targets, the only answer is that there is something wrong within the Department. I fear a Govt-Contractor nexus has formed and this must be probed immediately,” he added.
Aam Aadmi Party State president and MP Bhagwant Mann hit out at the Chief Minister, who, he alleged, was acting like a mute spectator in this hour of crisis looming large on the State leadership.
