Why PNB director got BJP’s Lok Sabha ticket: Congress

New Delhi: A fresh controversy over the multi-crore PNB surfaced on Saturday with the Congress questioning the BJP over giving ticket to a former director of the bank from Amritsar for 2017 Lok Sabha bypoll from Amritsar.

After Amarinder Singh, who took over as Punjab chief minister, vacated his Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, the BJP had fielded Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, former director of PNB. An English daily from Punjab had reported on July 4 2015 that “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Chhina was today elected director, Punjab National Bank, at Delhi....”

The report added that “Mr Chhina, who is considered a close confidant to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, had been chairman of the Punjab Small-Scale Industries and Export Corporation and also served as chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust.”

Congress leader Kapil Sibal, without naming Mr Chhina, asked, “Who was the government nominee of the Punjab National Bank, who was he close to?”