Relations between Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit and Bhagwant Mann soured on Monday with the former hitting out at the CM again, questioning the recent steps by the Aam Aadmi Party government.
About the AAP government sending government school principals to Singapore for training, the governor wrote to Mann he had received complaints about the selection of the principals, malpractices and illegalities in the process.
The governor said another complainant said Mann appointed Gurinderjit Singh Jawanda as chairman of the Punjab Information and Communication and Technology Corporation Ltd.
“I have been informed the name of Gurinderjit Singh Jawanda appears in a kidnapping and property grab case. Please send me the details,” he wrote.
“In one of the letters addressed to me, you had mentioned that because of the heavy mandate by the people of Punjab you are the CM. I agree. But you should keep it in mind people elected you to run the government as per the Constitution and not as per your whims and fancies. According to the Article 167, you must furnish details asked by me, but you never cared and treated all my queries with contempt. To maintain cordial relations, I did not reveal the letters to the media as I thought you will fulfil the mandate of the Constitution. It appears, you have ignored my letters, I am compelled to release the letters to the media,” he said.
Purohit held he had sought information on the non-disbursal of scholarship to SC students and the details of government ads, which, he wrote, was also lying in cold storage.
“The information sought by me may be furnished within a fortnight. If you fail, I will be compelled to take legal advice for action,” he said.
Replying to the governor’s letter, Mann tweeted he was answerable to Punjab and Punjabis; not to any Centre-appointed governor.
