Punjab Minister dropped from Cabinet, 2nd in nine-month govt

Chandigarh : Punjab Horticulture Minister Fauja Singh Sarari on Saturday resigned from the Cabinet, the second one to be dropped in the just nine-month old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Bhagwant Mann.

Sarari’s name had surfaced in a case of devising an extortion plan. After his resignation, the state government decided to go in for a Cabinet expansion. Sources in the government said a time has already been sought from the Governor for its expansion.

Earlier, Vijay Singla was dropped from the Cabinet on corruption charges. With the resignation of Sarari, the vacancies in the Council of Ministers have gone up to four. Sarari was inducted into the Cabinet in July 2022.

In September, an audio clip went viral, wherein the he was allegedly heard discussing an extortion plan to trap foodgrain transporters. The audio clip was leaked by his close aide turned foe Tarsem Lal Kapoor. Sarari has all along maintained that the audio clip was doctored.