Punjab CM Mann skips reception held for President, pulled up by Governor

At the civic reception in the evening, welcoming the President on behalf of Punjab, Purohit, who is also the administrator of Chandigarh, noted Mann’s absence, saying that the CM had assured him of his attendance.

“I had invited him personally. I had even spoken with him on phone. He had even accepted it. He may have some compulsions,” Purohit said.

According to Purohit, Mann instead sent a representative. “No matter how occupied one is, I feel it is important to fulfill one’s constitutional responsibility,” he added.

Mann, along with his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, is on a two-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat, where elections are due in December and where the AAP has postured itself as the third alternative. Mann and Kejriwal attended an AAP road show in the evening in Vadodara.

The Punjab BJP criticized Mann for skipping the function held in honour of the President. Punjab BJP General Secretary Subhash Sharma said it is unfortunate that Mann skipped the event and asked the chief minister to understand his constitutional responsibility.

Reacting to the Governor’s remarks, Minister Arora said that was very unfortunate that Purohit was raising “this political issue” from the stage of the Raj Bhavan.

Arora said that Mann’s event (in Gujarat) was scheduled and the CM had deputed him to receive and welcome the President during her visit to Chandigarh. He said that he along with five other cabinet ministers, the DGP and all senior bureaucrats from state attended the Air Force Day celebrations in Chandigarh where Murmu was the chief guest. He urged Governor to restrain from making such statements in the future.

This not the first time that a slugfest has erupted between the Governor and the AAOP government. Last month, a war of words had begun after Purohit withdrew permission to the government to hold a special session to table a confidence vote, a day after according it.

The Governor cited rules to say that there was no provision for such a vote. Later, the AAP government sought to hold a regular session to which the Governor gave his nod only after getting the agenda. Later, Mann went ahead with the trust vote despite protests from the Opposition which said the government was going against the Constitutional head of state.

The civic reception was attended among others by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, Union Minister Som Prakash and Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker KS Sandhawan, chairman of National Commission for SCs Vijay Sampla and Chandigarh Mayor Sarabjeet Kaur. Cutting across party lines, all Chandigarh councillors attended the event.

While Purohit mentioned about Mann’s absence, an AAP councillor asked why the Governor didn’t name Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, who too did not attend the event.

Kher had earlier in the day attended the celebrations to mark the Air Force Day.

Speaking at the event, President said that Chandigarh has a “special significance for both Punjab, the land of five rivers, and Haryana, the cradle of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita”.

“It has the distinction of being the capital of the two states. People from both the states come to Chandigarh for education, employment, medical and many other reasons,” she said.

The President said that along with the UT of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana have been endowed with many unique gifts by nature. “It is our duty to cherish them. We should leave all those ways which are not in accordance with nature and through which pollution spreads. This applies to all of us. We should also take the help of science and technology in creating harmony with nature,” she said.

Murmu highlighted how women are marching forward in all areas with determination and hard work.
“Our daughters are marching forward in all areas with determination…they are excelling in every field. From guarding the country’s borders to being fighter plane pilots, and from being entrepreneurs to IAS and IPS officers, and doctors… They are moving ahead in all fields,” Murmu said.

She said a batch of 175 trainees of IAS had come to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and 52 of them were women.
Addressing the gathering, she said that every year, during the winter season, the issue related to the air quality gets discussed all over the country, especially in this region. Everyone suffers from the ill-effects of pollution.

Earlier, Purohit, in his speech, specified that Chandigarh has made a significant jump from 66th place to 12th in the Swacch Survekshan rankings. “I am not satisfied though. I have directed them aspire for top five. Our Chandigarh should be in top five,” he added.