Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann sacks state health minister Vijay Singla over corruption charges

On Tuesday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann sacked his Health Minister Vijay Singla from the cabinet on corruption charges. The Chief Minister said the health minister was involved in corruption cases and they had proof of that.

The minister is a legislator from the Mansa Assembly. Mann ordered the registration of an FIR against the minister. A charge against the minister was to demand one percent commission from each government tender. Mann said there would be zero tolerance for corruption.

Releasing a video statement, Mann said, “AAP is an honest party. Our government can’t tolerate corruption of even Re 1. I have seen this hope in the eyes of people – during my visits across the state – that they were waiting for somebody to take them out of swamps of corruption. When the CM face had to be announced for Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal had made his anti-corruption goal clear to me.”

Mann further added, “I had promised him that we will duly work towards this. Recently, the corruption case against the minister came to my notice. The media did not know about it… I could have brushed it under the carpet. If I would have done that, I would have betrayed lakhs who had trusted us. So I am taking strict action against the minister.”

After the decision was announced today, AAP MP Raghav Chadha tweeted, “Aam Aadmi Party is the only party that has the integrity, courage & uprightness to take action against their own on grounds of corruption. We saw it in Delhi, now we are witnessing it in Punjab. ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION. A commendable decision by CM (sic).”

The CM also said that Vijay Singla has admitted the corruption charges against him.