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Opinion Raising the bar

Punjab CM’s decision to sack discredited minister sends out the welcome message that misuse of office is unacceptable

January 20, 2018 12:22 AM IST First published on: Jan 20, 2018 at 12:22 AM IST

Faced with mounting evidence, Rana Gurjit’s exit seemed to be a matter of time.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s decision to drop Rana Gurjit Singh from his cabinet came none too soon, and was the right step to take. A businessman turned politician, this Congress MLA from Kapurthala was the power and irrigation minister. His position was compromised from the day it emerged, some seven months ago, that his ex-employees — men of modest means — bid crores to win sand mining rights last May. His defence that these ex-employees now had their own businesses, and were no longer connected to him, did not stand up to scrutiny.

A series of reports in this newspaper showed how these enterprises were linked to Rana Gurjit, and even shared the same office and email addresses with his businesses.

The chief minister, who first defended his colleague, later set up a judicial commission of enquiry to investigate the allegations. However, the terms of enquiry were too narrow, and though the commission did recommend the cancellation of the mining allotments linked to the minister, it found no evidence of wrongdoing by the minister. Still, the media continued to dig out more details, including a link between the controversial bidders and a contractor who is alleged to have scammed the irrigation department. Faced with mounting evidence, Rana Gurjit’s exit seemed to be a matter of time. It was also clear though that the longer he hung on, the more the government got tainted by association. In the event, the former minister handed in his resignation early in the new year.

Punjab is the only state in which the Congress has recently succeeded in winning an election. One of its main promises was to provide a clean government. There were such serious allegations of misgovernance and conflicts of interests against the previous SAD-BJP government that the party was able to reverse its national losing streak to win a two-thirds majority. For a party battling allegations of corruption against UPA 2 since 2012, its government in Punjab is an opportunity to present a model of good, clean governance.

It would give the party something positive to present in its campaigns for the state elections that are due this year. By jettisoning Rana Gurjit Singh, the Amarinder Singh government has, early in its tenure, raised the bar against corruption creditably high, and demonstrated that misconduct will be taken seriously.