The cold war between Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit and chief minister Bhagwant Mann escalated on Monday with the former dropping another letter bomb questioning AAP government’s recent decisions, including some appointments and selection of school principals for a training trip to Singapore.
The move drew a sharp response from Mann who said his government is only answerable to Punjabis and not a Centre-appointed governor.
In a fresh flashpoint, Purohit’ s letter sought details from the chief minister on the selection of government school principals sent to Singapore for a training seminar, saying he has received complaints of “malpractices and illegalities” in this regard.
The governor also questioned the appointment of Gurinderjit Singh Jawanda as the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation chairman and pointed out that his name figured in a kidnapping and property grabbing case.
Claiming that Mann “never cared to reply” to his letters in the past, Purohit told the chief minister that people did not elect him to run the state according to his “whims and fancies” and that as per the Constitution, he is “bound to furnish” any information sought by Raj Bhavan.
He asked Mann to reply to his letter within a fortnight, failing which he would seek legal advice for further action. Taking to Twitter, Mann said his government is accountable only to 3 crore Punjabis. “Honourable Governor Sir, your letter was received through the media… all the issues mentioned in the letter are state subjects… According to the Constitution, I and my government are accountable to 3 crore Punjabis and not any governor appointed by the central government. Treat this as my reply,” the chief minister said in a tweet in Punjabi.
The Punjab government had sent 36 government school principals to a professional teacher training seminar in Singapore from February 6 to 10.
“I have received complaints in respect to the selection of principals for sending them to Singapore for training. The complainants point out certain malpractices and illegalities in the selection of these principals. The allegation is that there is no transparency,” Purohit said in his letter.
“I, therefore, request you to send me the criteria and details of entire selection process. Please also give detail if it was widely published throughout Punjab. As per news reports… the first batch has come back, (so) please let me have details of total expenditure incurred on travelling and boarding lodging and expenses towards training,” he said.
Further in his letter, Purohit expressed displeasure over Mann choosing to “ignore” his letters in the past. He said he did not reveal his previous letters to the press to maintain cordial relations between chief minister’s office and Raj Bhavan, but he was “compelled” to do so now as “it appears to me that you have decided to ignore my letters”.
“In spite of my detailed letter dated 14-12-2022, you chose to ignore all misdeeds of Kuldeep Singh Chahal, IPS. You have not only promoted him but also posted him as Jalandhar commissioner and that too the orders being issued just before 26th January, knowing very well that governor is to unfurl the national flag at Jalandhar,” Purohit said. “On this issue, it seems that this officer was your blue-eyed boy and you chose to ignore facts that were brought to your notice by this office,” he charged.
Chahal, a Punjab-cadre IPS officer, was removed from the post of Chandigarh SSP, for his alleged “misconduct” last year. He was promoted to the rank of deputy inspector general after he was sent back to Punjab.
In a letter dated January 4, Purohit said, he wrote about the presence of a non-appointee of the government, Naval Aggarwal, in meetings of senior officers where sensitive and confidential matters related to the country’s security were discussed.
The ties between the governor and Mann have been frayed since September last year when Purohit withdrew permission to the AAP government to convene a special session of the assembly ffor a trust vote. A political slugfest had erupted then with the AAP leadership crying foul and calling it a “murder of democracy”.
In October, Purohit had asked Mann to remove Punjab Agricultural University vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal from the post, saying he was appointed without following University Grants Commission norms and approval of the chancellor. Mann had hit back accusing Purohit of regularly “interfering” in the functioning of his government.
