After Punjab Government received widespread flak from all spheres over its decision of offering jobs to two sons of MLAs on compassionate ground, MLA Fatehjung Bajwa today declined the offer given to his son Arjun Bajwa.
The MLA has officially given in writing that he is refusing this job offer and his son does not require it.
The Punjab cabinet offered government jobs to sons of two Congress MLAs, Fatehjung Bajwa and Rakesh Pandey on compassionate grounds, after which Punjab youth as well as some Congress leaders criticized this decision of the CM-led-cabinet.
The offering of jobs to two MLAs sons emerged as new political controversy and even some Punjab Congress leaders took the matter to party high command demanding that it should be taken back immediately.
Sunil Jakhar along with at least five ministers- Charanjit Channi, Sukhjunder Singh Randhawa, Tript Bajwa, Sukhwinder Sarkaria and Razian Sultan had opposed the cabinet’s decision. Jakhar had warned that providing jobs to sons of MLAs might give the opposition a chance to accuse Congress of promoting nepotism. Calling the decision ‘ill-advised’ Jakhar had cautioned CM and asked him to revert it.
However, CM had backed up his decision saying the job offer is ‘just a token of gratitude and compassion' to the people who lost their lives to a cause.
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Criticizing the cabinet’s decision MLA Kuljit Nagra had said, “Party should rollback decision and meet the promise of ‘ghar gahr naukri’ instead of giving jobs to kins of MLAs.” Meanwhile, MLA Aamrinder Raja Warring had appealed to MLAs ‘to decline the job offers provided to their sons’.
The controversy surrounds Congress at a time when the party is already facing a political crisis in the state due to endless clashes between Chief Minister Capt Aamrinder Singh and MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu.