BRUSH UP: Amarinder (right) has launched a fast-track clean-up operation

Under sidhu, PPSC became a one-man show, quasi-legally.

That there was something amiss in Ravinder Pal Singh Sidhu's PPSC was first suspected in 1998. That was when 93 appointments to the PCS came under a cloud. One of them was that of a daughter of a senior police officer, who reportedly paid Sidhu Rs 50 lakh out of which Rs 35 lakh turned out to be counterfeit notes. This "money" was part of a seizure made by the police in a fake currency case. The police officer had simply pilfered some of the bogus currency his department had apprehended and used it to bribe Sidhu.

The matter was duly hushed up but the double-crossing of the system and the triple-crossing of Sidhu were illustrative of the mess Punjab was in. For all its wealth and plenty, the state has acquired a reputation for unusually corrupt governance. The Akali Dal, which came to power in 1997 after a decade in the wilderness, did nothing to dent this.

Amarinder Singh led the Congress to victory in this year's election promising to set up a judicial commission to look into the charges of corruption and "personal acquisition of wealth" by Parkash Singh Badal, his family members and ministers.

Buoyed by the applause for unearthing the Sidhu scandal, Amarinder, now the chief minister, has instituted a one-man inquiry commission headed by Justice (retd) A.S. Garg to look into allegations of "irregularities, illegalities, corruption and other misdoings" of the Badal government. To some, the terms of reference are a gross dilution of the poll manifesto. They indicate that Amarinder doesn't want a direct battle with his predecessor.

Nevertheless Sidhu's proximity to some people in the Badal household is already being spoken about. So a Congress-Akali confrontation is inevitable. Amarinder plans to use the corruption issue to strengthen his position ahead of his first budget later this summer. He plans tough fiscal measures and, as such, needs all the popularity he can earn.

For the moment, Amarinder is sitting pretty. "A fast-track cleaning of the Augean stables in Punjab will be the key feature of our governance," he told India Today. On April 22, he posed with a broom as a part of his "Safai Abhiyan" (Clean-up Mission) at a function in his hometown Patiala. It was a symbolic message. On the very day, Sidhu delivered a more real one by cancelling 639 appointments made by Sidhu but not yet notified by the state. The broom was doing its work.

-Ramesh Vinayak