Chandigarh: Expressing disappointment over the move to drop them from the new cabinet of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, a group of ministers in the previous Amarinder Singh regime on Sunday questioned this decision.
Balbir Singh Sidhu and Gurpreet Singh Kangar, who were there in the previous cabinet, asked what was their fault that they had been dropped.
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Addressing a joint news conference in Chandigarh shortly before the cabinet expansion, Balbir Sidhu even broke down while asking “what is my fault?”, PTI reported.
“I want to ask party high command what is my fault and why I was excluded?” asked Balbir Sidhu.
Balbir Sidhu, who held the health portfolio in the previous cabinet, said “they should have asked for my resignation and I would have given it happily”.
“The people of my area are disappointed. I am not upset with losing my ministry, I have no greed for power. But I want ask what was the need to humiliate us?” he added.
Recalling that he had made himself available round-the-clock when the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak, he said that he has been punished despite performing.
Kangar also echoed similar sentiments and posed the same question.
Kangar recalled that he had made himself available round-the-clock to the people when he held the power department portfolio, adding that he used to attend to complaints related to power even late in the night and try to resolve it immediately.
He added that he digitized entire record when he held the revenue department.
Meanwhile, a total of 15 MLAs to be part of the new cabinet took oath at the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh on Sunday.
Speaking after the cabinet expansion, Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat said that “those who could not be made ministers today will be accommodated in the government setup and the organisation”.
“This exercise has been done to bring in young faces and strike a social and regional balance,” he added, ANI reported.