CHANDIGARH: Former Union Minister Buta Singh is not in a position to pose any challenge to Chief Minister Beant Singh but his criticism of the Congress Government in the state in the wake of defeat from Ajnala in the by-election has created ripples on the political scene.
After getting provoked initially Beant Singh now seems to have decided against joining issues with Buta Singh openly.
According to the sources the MLAs have launched a signature campaign against the former union minister. They are signing a statement appealing to the party high command to take cognizance of the open criticism of Beant Singh by Buta Singh and take action against him for publicly criticizing the functioning of the state government. A number of MLAs from Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur district are learned to have already signed the statement.
To prove their loyalty to Beant Singh some of the MLAs are coming out with statements affirming full faith in the leadership of Beant Singh. Some ministers do not hide that they are mobilizing the MLAS against Buta Singh.
Beant Singh is also being advised by some senior party leaders to refurbish the image of the government by axing some of the ministers who are under the cloud. The names of at least five ministers are being mentioned in this regard.
According to sources Beant Singh took up the issue of affecting a minor reshuffle with Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao but he did not get the green signal. He was told to wait for some time However he denies the move to drop any minister.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 1, 1994
