Ahead of Cabinet expansion in Punjab government, six MLAs and former Punjab Pradesh Congress president Mohinder Singh Kaypee on Sunday have written to state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, demanding that Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh not be sworn in as the minister for his alleged involvement in corruption.
The MLAs have requested that Gurjit's proposed cabinet slot should go to a Dalit leader from Doaba region.
In a letter to Sidhu and Channi the MLAs wrote: "We the undersigned MLA and leaders of Doaba wish to convey huge resentment amongst the public and the Congress cadre on the proposed inclusion of tainted Rana Gurjeet Singh. Needless to mention, he was dropped from the cabinet in January 2018 due to the infamous mining scandal involving him, his family and his companies directly in the said scandal."
They further added, "The Punjab government had forfeited approximately Rs 25 crore deposited by a company, M/s Rajbir Enterprises, for the mining auction of 3 sites in Punjab. Justice Narang commission brought out a startling fact about that company of Rana Gurjeet Singh. M/s Rajbir Enterprises had received Rs 5 crore gratifications for the said mining auction from Gurinder Singh, who was charged by vigilance bureau, and is now in custody."
The MLAs asked why Rana's name was included despite no clean chit from the court or government to him.
The six MLAs who wrote the letter included-Navtej Singh Cheema, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Bawa Henry, Dr. Raj Kumar, Pawan Adiya and Sukhpal Singh Khaira.
( With inputs from ANI )
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