CHANDIGARH: The Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Partap Singh Bajwa, on Saturday, lambasted the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for making the bureaucrats scapegoat whenever the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government made anti-people decisions.
Citing a news report, Bajwa said that the Punjab CM has blamed some bureaucrats for denting the image of the AAP government in Punjab. As per the news report, the secretary for Higher Education in Punjab was held responsible for the recent decision to privatise the eight government colleges in the state. However, the decision was withdrawn after a huge backlash from the main opposition party - the Punjab Congress.
"It is the AAP government that often takes ill-conceived decisions at the very beginning and when it sees adverse reactions from the opposition party and other groups or organisations, it takes a U-Turn immediately and put the onus of the bureaucrats", Bajwa added.
Senior Congress Leader said that in August last year, the AAP government dissolved the panchayats and decided to hold early panchayat elections in the state. The orders bore the signatures of CM Bhagwant Mann and rural development and panchayat minister Laljit Singh Bhullar.
"When the matter went to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the punjab government took a u-turn and withdrew its orders. The AAP government later made two senior bureaucrats the scapegoat and suspended them", Bajwa added.
The opposition leader said that the AAP leadership terms its u-turns on several orders democratic steps and flexibility in the functioning of the government. However, in reality, such instances demonstrate the ignorance and insincerity of the AAP leadership.