Won’t bow down to Guv’s threat: Punjab CM Mann

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday lashed out at Governor Banwarilal Purohit for “threatening” to impose President’s rule in the state and asked why his counterparts were “silent” on the law and order situation in BJP-ruled states.

Mann said the “selected” governor does not have any moral authority to “threaten” elected representatives of the people and asserted that he is “not going to bow down”.

Addressing a press conference, the chief minister alleged that the governors are acting as “puppets” of the Union government to create hindrances in the functioning of non-BJP governments in states like Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and said such things don’t augur well for the country’s federal structure.

“Punjab is most affected in the past due to (Article) 356. So, don’t rub salts on our wounds... Governor Sahab, don’t try to test the patience and emotions of the Punjabis,” Mann said. The governor has been accusing Mann of not responding to the letters sent to him in defiance of his authority. Purohit had on Friday warned the Mann government that he could recommend President’s rule in the state and also launch criminal proceedings if his letters were not answered.

Mann said on Saturday that the governor wrote 16 letters, of which replies have been given to nine and the rest are being followed up. He said replies for the remaining letters are being readied and will be given in the coming week as in some cases detailed information has to be gathered which takes time.

At the same time, the chief minister alleged the letters from the governor reek of “hunger for power”.

Taking potshots, he said Purohit may be feeling “politically irrelevant’’ and now he can become BJP’s chief ministerial face for poll-bound Rajasthan, from where he originally hails, and take power there so that he can freely give orders.

“The threat which the governor gave to the people of Punjab, peace-loving people of the state, I will call it a threat of imposition of the President’s rule,” Bhagwant Mann said at the press conference, decrying the governor’s “unconstitutional” remarks.