The list of "under investigation" employees is a telling tale of the state of affairs, as the Punjab government has ordered an investigation into the recruitment of 154 people in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha over the last five years of Congress rule.
The Aam Aadmi Party had previously raised the issue in the run-up to the assembly elections. Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, who has ordered a high-level investigation into the matter, said today that he had received a complaint from Harjot Singh Bains, the Minister for Tourism, Mines, and Geology. "Any illegal recruitment will be investigated and action will be taken," he said.
Siddharth Thakur, the son of the speaker's friend, is among the employees who have been given jobs in the assembly, according to Harjot Bains Manjinder the nephew of MLA Surjit Dhiman. Gaurav Thakur is the speaker's cousin's son. Joginder Singh, a former Congress MLA, has a nephew named Praveen Kumar. Gaurav Rana and Saurav Rana, two brothers from the same Ropar family, were given jobs.
Rakesh Kumar, the son of Harbans Lal, the chairman of the Anandpur Sahib Market Committee, was also hired. The work that is carried out at DC Office Ropar. Manpreet Badal's close friend's son, Ajay Kumar of Bathinda, works with him. Avtar Singh is the son of a former Congress MP Pawan Bansal's driver, . Kuldeep Mann is the son of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal's staffer. Pramod Kumar is PRTC's Director's son. Anju Bala is the speaker's secretary's sister-in-law.
Manpreet Badal recommended Harsimranjit of Malout. Sumanpreet Kaur is Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti's niece. Gurpreet Kaur, a resident of Sarabha Nagar in Ludhiana, is the daughter of MP Manish Tewari's driver. The chairman of the Ropar Planning Board is Harish Kumar. Harnam Singh, the son of Manpreet Badal's OSD, is from Chandigarh.
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According to the complaint, despite being appointed to the Vidhan Sabha, some of these recruits continued to work with their "benefactors" informally. They cited the case of Ajay Kumar (a clerk hired by Manpreet Badal) from Bathinda, who allegedly did not attend the Vidhan Sabha and continued to work for Manpreet.