AAP Minister In Punjab Found Running ‘Non-Existent’ Department For 20 Months, BJP Reacts

Last Updated:February 22, 2025, 10:49 IST

The AAP-led Punjab government said that the Department of Administrative Reforms, assigned to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, was “non-existent”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government in Punjab after one of the ministers in the state cabinet was found to have been running a non-existent department for nearly 20 months.

Dhaliwal has been in the spotlight as Punjab’s NRI Affairs minister ever since the US deported the first lot of illegal migrants to Amritsar on February 5, followed by two other such flights.

In a gazette notification, the Punjab government said the Department of Administrative Reforms, which was allocated to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, was no longer in existence. Dhaliwal will now only hold the portfolio of NRI Affairs in the state Cabinet.

“In partial modification of Punjab Government Notification No. 2/1/2022-2Cabinet/2230 dated 23.09.2024, regarding allocation of portfolios amongst the Ministers, the Department of Administrative Reforms earlier allotted to Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Cabinet Minister is not in existence as on date,” read the notification.

Dhaliwal was earlier allotted the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department, but was relieved of the position during a Cabinet reshuffle in May 2023, as per reports. He was assigned the NRI Affairs portfolio as well as Administrative Reforms after that reshuffle, which he retained after a September 2024 cabinet reshuffle.

The BJP reacted sharply to this development, accusing Dhaliwal of running a department for 20 months that never existed. “Imagine for 20 months the CM did not even know that a minister was running a NON EXISTENT DEPARTMENT,” said BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari.

“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,” said BJP IT Department In-charge Amit Malviya.

Even Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal lashed out at AAP for ministers being ignorant of the portfolios they hold. “All this is happening because ministers have no role in governance as the govt is being run in remote control from Delhi,” she said.

A source told The Indian Express that after Dhaliwal was given the Administrative Reforms department, he asked the government for clarity as his department did not have a secretary.

“He was told that the administrative reforms was a part of the governance reforms department only. The department was about ushering the department in the era of information technology. Now with the notification, the confusion has been sorted,” the source said.

Dhaliwal heading a ministry that did not exist on paper raised serious questions about the governance in Punjab under AAP. It remains to be seen if Dhaliwal would be allotted another portfolio.