Punjab A Joke: BJP Accuses Mann Govt After AAP Min Found Running Non-Existent Dept For 20 Months

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mocked the Punjab government after it was revealed that AAP Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal had been overseeing a "non-existent department" for 20 months, ANI reported citing a gazette notification issued by the chief secretary of the state.

"In partial modification of the previous Punjab govt notification regarding the allocation of portfolios, among ministers, the department of administrative reforms earlier allotted to Dhaliwal is not in existence as on date," the notification reaḍ.

BJP IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya took to X, commenting, "You can imagine the crisis in Punjab government if it took nearly 20 months to realise that a department assigned to one of its prominent ministers never actually existed. Arvind Kejriwal is a charlatan who must be banished from public life."

BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also criticized the AAP-led government, saying saying, "Aap has made Governance in Punjab a joke! The AAP Minister ran a department for 20 Months which never existed! Imagine for 20 months the CM did not even knew that a minister was running a " NON EXISTENT DEPARMENT."

As per the notification, Dhaliwal will now solely hold the portfolio of NRI Affairs in the Punjab Cabinet. The change, ordered by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Mann, took effect on February 7, 2025.

Dhaliwal, who was originally assigned the agriculture and farmers welfare portfolio, was moved during a Cabinet reshuffle in May 2023 and was then given administrative reforms. Despite another reshuffle in September 2024, he continued to manage the department, which, in fact, existed only on paper.

Dhaliwal has recently been in the news for his role in handling US deportees arriving in Amritsar.