Centre picks Badnore as Punjab guv, puts off move on new UT boss
Thursday, 18/08/2016
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After Badal lodges strong protest with home minister Rajnath Singh over move to make KJ Alphons as Chandigarh administrator, Modi government puts appointment on hold.
CHANDIGARH: The Centre appointed VP Singh Badnore, a former Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, as the new Punjab governor on Wednesday, but put on hold its move to send retired bureaucrat and BJP leader KJ Alphons to Chandigarh as administrator after strong protest from Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Badnore, 68, will take over the reins from Haryana governor Kaptan Singh Solanki who was holding additional charge of Punjab for the past 18 months. A four-time former MLA, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhilwara in 2004 and 2009.
While the Punjab governor traditionally has the additional charge of administrator of Union Territory of Chandigarh, his appointment made no mention of it.
The Centre had sounded Alphons about the decision to appointment him as Chandigarh administrator instead. Alphons confirmed the development, saying the Punjab government had raised certain “technical” issues. Badal raised objections after the news of likely appointment of a separate administrator for Chandigarh triggered a political storm in the state where the assembly elections are just five months away.
Chandigarh has been at the centre of long-standing interstate disputes between Punjab and Haryana. And, the appointment of 63-year-old Alphons, a former IAS officer of the 1979 batch from Kerala, would not only have ended a 32-year practice of the Punjab governor holding additional charge of the Union Territory, but also been a huge setback for the Akalis.
The Badals, who are always strident on inter-state issues, would have also been left redfaced, as the SAD is a partner in the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
On a day of fast-paced events, there were angry reactions from the Punjab leaders as soon as Alphons, best known for his demolition drive against illegal encroachments in Delhi, broke the news of his appointment. “I received a call from home minister Rajnath Singh last evening, informing me of the development. I am in Kerala, but will leave for New Delhi soon. The orders are expected to reach me in the evening,” he told Hindustan Times over the phone on Wednesday afternoon.
The opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were quick to denounce the move, calling it a bid to dilute Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh. The chief minister’s office (CMO) first issued a statement asking the centre “not to disturb the time-tested convention and practice of keeping the governor of Punjab as the Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh”.
The statement was quickly withdrawn after it became clear that no formal orders had been issued yet.
In the revised statement, the Punjab chief minister slammed state Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, accusing him of shedding crocodile tears over the issue.
However, there was no official word from the ministry of home affairs.
The appointment, according to ministry sources, is likely to take place after the Punjab governor takes charge.
