Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday held a press conference regarding his ultimatum to his predecessor Charanjit Singh Channi. On 22 May, he had alleged that Channi’s nephew, Jashan, had demanded a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a cricketer to help him secure a government job under the sports quota. In the press conference, Mann presented the cricketer, Jasinder Singh and his father, Manjinder Singh. However, the CM did not present any video or documentary evidence during the briefing.
Meanwhile, Channi has rejected Mann’s allegations and slammed the CM for spreading unfounded rumours and mentally torturing him and his family over baseless allegations. After the press conference, Punjab’s former Leader of Opposition Sukhpal Khaira, tweeted that cricketer Jasinder Singh’s appeal had been declined twice by both a session court and High Court in the same case in the year 2021. According to the Chief Minister, he met a Punjab cricketer in Dharamshala when he was in Himachal Pradesh to watch an Indian Premier League match. The CM claimed that the cricketer- who remained unidentified at the time- told him that he had applied for a government job under the sports quota. Jasinder had been told he would get the job by officials of the Amarinder Singh-led government. Mann claimed that when the cricketer and his father then met Channi- who replaced Singh as Chief Minister- he told them to meet his nephew. The cricketer told CM Mann that he met with Channi’s nephew, who assured him that he would get a job, but raised a demand for “two”. “The player took Rs 2 lakh to Channi’s nephew, who abused him and told him that ‘two’ meant Rs 2 crore. They (Channi) call themselves poor. For them ‘two’ means Rs 2 crore, not Rs 2 lakh,” Mann said. However, the Chief Minister said that when they expressed their inability to give the money the job was never given. He said that after this, the former Chief Minister had gone as far as publicly reprimanding Jasinder and his father during a function. He added that Jasinder was unable to get a job, owing to the former Chief Minister’s attitude and was “highly demoralised.” The Chief Minister also announced that his government would give Jasinder a job, as per the stipulated norms of the state government. He further said that legal action would be taken against those who have “ruined the youth of the state” through their misdeeds and not be spared at any cost. Bhagwant Mann said Jasinder, a former Ranji player, had applied for a job through the Punjab Public Service Commission under the sports quota. The Chief Minister said that Jasinder had been given a ‘D’ grade by the sports department and was considered in the general category, despite receiving the highest marks in the sports quota. The Chief Minister said that Captain Amarinder Singh had asked officials to examine Jasinder’s request and submit it for approval. However, before this could be done, the Captain was ousted and Channi was made the Chief Minister of the state. A game of cash-for-jobs, Bhagwant Mann claims, began after Channi assumed charge of the CM’s office.