New ministers get portfolios after slight delay, confusion

CHANDIGARH: Captain Amarinder Singh's Congress government in Punjab on Saturday inducted nine new ministers in the Cabinet. Though the chief minister earlier announced that the portfolios would be announced on Sunday, portfolios were declared late on Saturday evening. Sources said there was some resentment, both among MLAs who were not made ministers and among sitting ministers who were worried about possible changes in their portfolios.
Already, three MLAs have resigned from party posts after they were not included in the list of ministers. They have alleged that backward classes are being under-represented in the Cabinet.

Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in, Amarinder denied making an unfair selection and said adequate representation had been given to all sections and regions of the state, with seniority being a significant criterion for selection.

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Reacting to a question about resignation of the three MLAs — Sangat Singh Gilzian, Surjit Dhiman and Nathu Ram — from party posts, he said, “All issues would be amicably resolved. Those legislators who could not be inducted in the council of ministers would be adjusted in boards and corporations.”

Governor V P Singh Badnore administered the oath of office to the new ministers at the Punjab Raj Bhawan. With this, the Cabinet has touched the maximum permitted limit of 18 ministers (15%) out of the total 117 Punjab legislators. Punjab Congress in-charge Asha Kumari and co-incharge Harish Chaudhary also attended the ceremony.

The new ministers include Om Prakash Soni (school education and freedom fighters departments), Bharat Bhushan Ashu (food and civil supplies, and consumer affairs), Rana Gurmit Sodhi (sports and youth affairs), Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (cooperatives and jails), Gurpreet Singh Kangar (power and new and renewable energy sources), Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria (revenue, rehabilitation and disaster management, water resources, mines and geology), Balbir Singh Sidhu (animal husbandry, dairy development and labour), Vijay Inder Singla (PWD and information technology), Sunder Sham Arora (industries and commerce).

Ministers of state Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana were administered oath as Cabinet ministers. There has been a reshuffle in their portfolios. Chaudhary has now been given social security, women and child development, and transport departments. Sultana has now been handed over higher education, water supply and sanitation (public health) departments.

Senior cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who is considered close to the chief minister and holds portfolios of rural development and panchayats, has now been given the important department of housing and urban development, which was earlier with Amarinder. As expected, departments of other old ministers have not been changed. The chief minister has kept the agriculture department with himself along with other departments which have not been allotted to any minister.

The new sports minister Sodhi is a former sportsman and was five-time national champion in trap shooting. He had also participated in the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok and 1978 Commonwealth Games in Montreal. Many Congress MLAs who were in the race to become ministers but could not find a place in the Cabinet, like Raj Kumar Verka, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Sangat Singh Gilzian, were not present at the oath-taking ceremony.

The chief minister also denied that there were any “swollen faces” in the party and added that the state has 7,000 jobs, ranging from the market committees to the planning boards, where party workers can be adjusted. Punjab Congress president and Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar said, “It is the chief minister’s prerogative whom to induct in the Cabinet. There are 77 Congress MLAs and many are capable. But all cannot be adjusted in the Cabinet.” He added issues of concerned MLAs would be sorted and development would not be stopped.