Another set of face-off between Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, seems to be yet again on the cards.
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Terming the letter and tweet by the Chief Minister in response to the Governor’s earlier letter— seeking details with respect to the selection of school Principals, who were recently sent to Singapore for training and some other issue— as “not only patently unconstitutional but also extremely derogatory”, Mr. Purohit on Thursday said he would decide on the Budget Session request, after taking legal advice on the CMs letter-tweet.
The Punjab government had recommended summoning the Budget Session of the State from March 3, 2023, and sent a letter to the Governor for approval.
At loggerheads
Earlier this month, the Governor had written to the Chief Minster expressing his discontent over not replying to his queries. To this, Mr. Mann replied in a tweet, saying “Hon’ble Governor Sir, your letter was received through the media.. all the subjects mentioned in the letter are all State subjects. I and my government are accountable to 3 crore Punjabis according to the Constitution and not to any Governor appointed by the Central Government. Consider this as my reply.”
The tiff between the Governor and the AAP government has been on public display for a while now in Punjab. In October last year Mr. Purohit termed the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) in Ludhiana as ‘illegal’ and asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to remove the VC. Also, the Governor refused to give consent to the appointment of Dr. Gurpreet Wander as the new Vice Chancellor of Faridkot-based Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), which was announced by the Chief Minister. Mr. Purohit had also slammed the Chief Minister over his absence from the civic reception for President Droupadi Murmu as well. A few months ago, the Governor and the AAP government were involved in a face-off over holding a special session of the State Assembly for the tabling of a ‘confidence motion’.