SAD sacks rebel MLA, picks Olympian Pargat among 6 new CPS

CHANDIGARH: Ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, the Akali Dal government on Tuesday removed rebel Amritsar South MLA Inderbir Bolaria from the post of chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) and inducted another riled legislator and former India hockey captain Pargat Singh from Jalandhar Cantonment.
Apart from Pargat, the state government also appointed six more chief parliamentary secretaries -Gurtej Singh Ghuriana, Manjit Singh Mianwind, Darshan Singh Shivalik, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Sukhjeet Kaur Sahi Seema Kumari, taking their total tally to 25.
The induction of the new CPS, that enjoy salaries at par with cabinet minister, drew sharp criticism from the opposition Congress, which said the “bankrupt government reeling under debt was only trying to appease its antagonized MLAs ahead of 2017 polls“.
Apart from Rs 1 lakh monthly salary, the CPS enjoy perks such as chauffeur-driven Toyota Camry, house rent allowance of Rs 50,000, and Rs 1,500 daily transport allowance in the state.
The removal of Bolaria came nearly eight months after he had publically complained diversion and lack of funds for his district's development. He had also staged dharna and joined protests by Amritsar residents to oppose the location of solid waste management project against SAD supremo Sukhbir Badal's wishes.
He was also the second Amritsar politician who rebelled against the SAD after BJP's firebrand leader Navjot Singh Sidhu who had made similar allegations of bungling of funds and halting of key projects. “I was in a celebratory mood for my son's second birthday. However, I will be holding a press conference in a day or two and I will explain my position on what led to these circumstances,” Bolaria told TOI.
Even Pargat had recently given a miss to most of the Akali Dal events in Jalandhar that were attended by Sukhbir.
The Congress took potshots at the SAD for distributing “free salaries“ even as there is an ongoing controversy of Rs 12,000 crore missing row. “It is tra sing foodgrain row. “It is tragic that the government is facing such bankruptcy in appeasing its MLAs in its last few months at the cost of public exchequer,“ said Congress leader Manpreet Badal, who is also the estranged cousin of Sukhbir.
In a move to assert his party's say in the coalition government, sources in the BJP said that new Punjab party chief and Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla may be behind the induction of two MLAs as CPS. Till now, BJP has had four ministers in the government while some of its MLAs had been discreetly demanding a deputy chief minister's post. The two new CPS are -Seema Kumar (Pathankot) and Surjeet Kaur Sahi (Dasuya).
Out of the nine MLAs of Jalandhar district two ­ Chunni lal Bhagat and Ajit Kohar -are already ministers and with fresh appointment of two MLAs from the district ­ Pargat Singh and Gurpartap Wadala from Nakodar -the number of chief parliamentary secretaries from here has risen to five. Already BJP MLA K D Bhandari, SAD MLAs Avinash Chander and Pawan Teenu are CPS.