People of Punjab will be benefitted by Raghav Chadha-led advisory panel: AAP

The AAP on Tuesday defended the appointment of its Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha as the chairman of an advisory body set up by the Punjab government and said people of the state will be benefitted by it.

The party asserted that it was well within the powers of the Punjab government to set up the panel and sought to counter the opposition charge, contending that an advisory body can not become higher in authority than the chief minister forming it using his powers.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab appointed Chadha as the chairman of a temporary advisory committee on Monday, evoking sharp reactions from the opposition parties.

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring slammed the AAP government, accusing Chief Minister BHagwant Mann of ceding too much power to Chadha through the committee.

Appointing Chadha as chairman of the advisory panel is tantamount to making him the chief minister of Punjab, Warring charged.

''It's an advisory body, temporary body. And, the biggest thing about it is that there is no provision for paying even a single rupee (to the chairman and members of the panel),'' AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said when asked for the party's reaction on the issue.

He said Chadha has been appointed as the chairman of the advisory body so that ''small ambiguity'' in policy matters can be done away with as he has the ''first hand knowledge'' of the Arvind Kejriwal model of governance in Delhi. ''People of Punjab will benefitted by the panel's advices,'' he added.

The Punjab government had notified the advisory committee a few days ago to much scepticism of the opposition parties, which questioned its legality. Bharadwaj said it was well within the powers of the Punjab government to set up the advisory panel.

''The government can form any advisory body for itself. Ministers, chief ministers keep advisors and consultants,'' he said.

He said Punjab chief minister has set up the advisory body, using his powers.

''If I have set up a body using my powers and delegated some of my powers to it, it can not become higher than me,'' he added.