CHANDIGARH – Gulzar Singh Ranike, minister for scheduled caste/backward classes welfare and animal husbandry, badly-damaged the six-month-old SAD-BJP government in Punjab after his resignation on Sunday following allegations of misappropriation of public funds. He is the third minister to quit in disgrace in the new Parkash Singh Badal-led government.
Allegations of transferring Rs 2.5 crore from Centre-sponsored border area development programme funds to fake accounts in Attari were levelled against Ranike. “My resignation is to uphold moral ethics in politics as well as to maintain the dignity of the office so as to enable the ongoing inquiry by the vigilance bureau to proceed in a transparent and impartial manner,” Ranike wrote in his resignation letter to the CM.
