CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has a tough job, balancing pulls and pressures while expanding his Cabinet, which is expected to happen any time soon.
There is ‘resentment’ among senior Congress leaders that their claims were ignored in the first round. The state can have a maximum of 18 ministers, of which 10, including the chief minister, have been filled. There is intense lobbying for the remaining eight as the party has come back to power after 10 years. Also at stake are chairmanships of prominent boards and corporations.
Some have won their seats multiple times, which make their case very strong. They include Rakesh Pandey, a six-time MLA from Ludhiana (North), O P Soni from Amritsar (Central), Amrik Dhillon from Samrala, Raj Kumar Verka from Amritsar (West), Rana Gurmit Sodhi from Guru Har Sahai and Balbir Sidhu from Mohali, all five-time MLAs. Then there are a few Rahul Gandhi favourites, such as Vijay Inder Singla (Sangrur), Youth Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring (Gidderbaha) and Kuljit Nagra (Fatehgarh Sahib), whose claims can’t be ignored.
Many leaders were unhappy that Navjot Singh Sidhu (who joined the Congress a few days before the Assembly elections), and Manpreet Singh Badal (who joined last year) were made ministers, leaving out party loyalists.
One of Amarinder’s options is to enact a Parliamentary Secretaries legislation, though it is likely to run into conflict with a Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict, under which all previous SAD-BJP appointments as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries had been struck down as unconstitutional.
Sources in the CMO said the draft of the bill is ready to be tabled in the Assembly, paving the way for appointment of MLAs as parliamentary secretaries. But Amarinder’s problem is that the Cabinet reshuffle cannot wait until the new legislation is notified.
In the case of board and corporation chairmanship also, the chief minister’s hands are tied as some party leaders were promised berths in them, while they were denied tickets in the Assembly election.