Mining row: Govt may face Oppn heat in Assembly

Chandigarh, The Congress, which claimed zero tolerance for any conflict of interest and blamed “corrupt oligarchs” for mining and other mafias in the election manifesto, is likely to face a tough time in the Vidhan Sabha session.
The Opposition is planning to take on the government on the issue of Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh’s employees taking mining contracts. The Budget session begins on June 14.
The matter came to the fore after The Tribune reported that Rana Gurjit’s four employees, including cook Amit Bahadur, got multi-crore sand and gravel mining contracts in the recent e-auction.
Leader of Opposition HS Phoolka said besides other issues, the government would have to give an answer on the controversy surrounding Rana Gurjit. He said it indicated towards a larger issue that how with the change of government much had not changed when it came to illegal mining. “A new set of mining mafia led by Congress leaders has replaced Akali leaders,” he said.
Sources in AAP said the party’s top leaders asked its MLAs to keep the issue alive outside the Vidhan Sabha till the session and they would take on the government once the session began. The party has called a meeting of MLAs next week to discuss the strategy. Simarjeet Bains, president, Lok Insaaf Party, which has an alliance with AAP, said the government stood exposed in the first 100 days of coming to power. “We have made a strategy with AAP to hold the government accountable,” said Bains.
A meeting of the core group of the SAD and the BJP was held in Jalandhar on June 3. “The leadership of both parties concluded that the government must be taken to task inside the House on mining contracts,” said Vineet Joshi, secretary, state BJP.

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