Mann acted like a coward, IAS officers made scapegoats: Badal on panchayats' dissolution issue
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday said Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann acted like a «coward» by making IAS officers «scapegoats» for his government's decision to dissolve all gram panchayats in the state. He said the process for dissolution of panchayats was initiated by Mann through Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar and hence, the chief minister should resign.
On August 31, the Punjab government told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it was withdrawing an August 10 notification dissolving all gram panchayats in the state.
Hours later, the government suspended two IAS officers — Rural Development and Panchayats Principal Secretary Dhirendra Kumar Tiwari and Rural Development and Panchayats Director Gurpreet Singh Khaira — with immediate effect for taking a «technically flawed» decision on the dissolution of panchayats.
Slamming the Punjab government over the issue, Badal said Mann was «acting like a coward and trying to hide by making the IAS officers scapegoats in the matter».
«The fact is that the entire process of dissolution of panchayats, (which was) to be followed by election, was initiated, piloted and signed by Bhagwant Mann through the concerned minister Laljit Singh Bhullar.
»The IAS officers had merely presented the concerned file for perusal and necessary orders by the chief minister.
