CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Harcharn Singh Brar who has already got on the wrong side of the dissidents within the Punjab Congress is once again in a quandary over the fate of Transport Minister Tejparkash Singh, the eldest son of stain Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Mr. Tejparkash Singh a Government employee till his father’s death, was inducted into the Punjab Cabinet at the behest of the Prime Minister and the request of Mrs. Jaswant Kaur, the widow of the former Chief Minister, Owing to a directive of the Election Commission that all by polls would be held along with the general election, Mr. Singh will have to step down since his six month term in office expires this week.
Mr. Brar is under tremendous pressure from within the party to adjust Mr, Tejparkash Singh in a post equivalent to that of a Cabinet minister. Mr, ‘Brar, who has witnessed the hostility of the dissidents at the Payal rally and otherwise, cannot afford to ignore Mr. ‘Tejparkash. The Chief Minister is currently away to Hyderabad to attend the wedding of Prime Minister P.V. Narsimha Rao’s grandson, where he is also expected to bring up the issue.
The appointment of Mr. Varinder Kataria as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress, who is considered to be close to the dissidents rather than Mr. Brar, has made the Chief Minister’s task even tougher. Mr. Tejparkash Singh has so far maintained a studied silence, during the recent Cabinet expansion, Mr, Brar ven had to appoint a junior Minister in the Transport Ministry to carry on the work of the department. In protest ‘against the manner in which Mr, Brar has sidelined the pro Beant Singh supporters in the three cabinet expansions. Mr, Tejparkash had submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister during a meeting of the dissidents with Mr, Rao. However, the resignation was not accented. Meanwhile, Mr, Kataria said “unity in the party was the need of the hour and priority would be to strengthen the Congress and the Government so that it could successfully face the forthcoming general election.”
‘The dissidents, however, accuse Mr. Brar of not taking up the issue of holding by-elections with the Center deliberately. Mr. Tejparkash Singh has been extensively touring the Jalandhar Cannot Assembly constituency which Mr, Beant Singh represented, in the hope that if elections are held he would be in a position to retain his father’s scat But with the deadline of March 9 to get elected being over, the only way out for Mr. Brar to contain dissidence from being reactivated is to give Mr. Tejparkash a Cabinet rank position.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 13, 1996
