Governance first casualty of Punjab Congress infighting

And this on a day when his bete noire Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said she would have quit, if she were in his place. ‘‘He doesn’t have even half the MLAs with him,’’ she told mediapersons at her residence.

Clearly unhappy with the wide-spread absenteeism among his colleagues, the CM said: ‘‘They had given a commitment to the Congress high command …remaining absent from work was not the right thing. But I believe they will return.’’ Amarinder reached the Secretariat last evening after laying foundation stones for the four gates at Fatehgarh Sahib, and found only six ministers back on job — four from the dissident camp and two from his.

Bhattal had earlier said that her followers would attend office from Monday, but only Jasjit Randhawa, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Raghunath Sahaipuri and Parliamentary Secretary Hansraj Josan made it to the Secretariat yesterday. Keeping them company were CM’s men Joginder Mann and Khushal Behl.

Though he did not explain why his men stayed away from work on Monday, Amarinder said that they had all been asked to ‘‘work from their rooms in the Secretariat from Tuesday to Wednesday, 9 am onwards’’. Asked about Bhattal’s incessant criticism of his government and the alleged damage to the party during his leadership, he said: ‘‘I was Congress president for four years. It was under my leadership that the party came to power.’’

Meanwhile, the function at Fatehgarh Sahib was boycotted by both local MLAs, Harbans Lal of Sirhind and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot of Amloh, who are aligned with Bhattal. Amarinder said it was regrettable that both chose to skip the function. ‘‘I am ready to concede any demand for reforms if it helps in making the atmosphere more congenial,’’ the Chief Minister said. But Bhattal seemed unconvinced. ‘‘He is above 60. I don’t think he can change in such a short time.’’

Amarinder said he did not want to start a new controversy by commenting on whether the ministers and MLAs deserved any salary for all the days they had spent away from matters of governance.