IT may be a little too early for Congressmen to forget why the Akali Dal-BJP combine had lost the last election in Punjab and why they were chosen instead to run the state affairs despite AAP offering an aggressive alternative. The majority perhaps thought the financial condition that Punjab was in did not warrant an experiment with a team of novices and Punjabis reposed their trust in the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh having past experience of running a government. However, the Captain they had trusted to steer them out of troubled waters is taking the state ship on the same ruinous path laden with icebergs. Among the most hated things the Badals did with disastrous consequences — for the state, the party and themselves — was the introduction of the halqa in-charge system. Media reports indicate the Congress government plans to revive the discredited practice without officially calling it so. Putting sons of serving Supreme Court judges on the government lawyers’ panel without their consent was embarrassing enough but could be explained away as a bad decision taken in a hurry, if not as a deliberate and crude attempt to court judges. But posting civil and police officers in consultation with the MLA of the area is no different from the Badals’ clever ploy to empower and enrich their local chieftains. It might still work if the legislators and officials do not hijack the law to target political opponents.There is, however, absolutely no justification for issuing an ordinance or bringing in a Bill to create posts of Chief Parliamentary Secretary and Parliamentary Secretary. The financial burden notwithstanding, the move will violate the constitutional cap on the size of ministry a state can have apart from last year’s ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. If providing administrative training to MLAs is a motive, as Capt Amarinder Singh has stated in an interview, then that can be done without giving them the special post and minister-like pay and perks. Questions are already being raised over the army of advisers the Captain has raised. Is power already breeding arrogance and blurring judgement?