CHANDIGARH: Amid last minute pulls and pressures, 15 Congress lawmakers, including seven freshers, took their oaths of office and secrecy as ministers in Punjab. The Charanjit Singh Channi ministry is loaded with Sikhs, but also has three members of the Scheduled Castes, four Hindus, one OBC and one Muslim. As usual, the Malwa region of the state got the biggest share of berths.
Eight of them were part of the outgoing Amarinder ministry. Among the new entrants are Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Pargat Singh, both of whom are close to Punjab Congress unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu. Gurkirat Singh Kotli, grandson of former chief minister Beant Singh, too got a berth for the first time.
The Sidhu stamp was evident in the expansion of the ministry as only two ministers considered close to Amarinder were retained. However, they are also close to the Congress high command. One controversial induction was that of Rana Gurjit Singh, a former irrigation minister. He was sworn in despite pressure from seven prominent party leaders from the Doaba region of the state, who wrote to Sidhu and Channi alleging Gurjit’s involvement in a sand mining scam. He had to resign from the Amarinder cabinet in 2018 because of the scam.
However, Sidhu unsuccessfully tried to accommodate Kuljit Nagra from Fatehgarh Sahib, working president of the Punjab Congress, in the ministry. Nagra’s name was dropped at the last minute to include Randeep Nabha from Amloh to improve regional balance following intervention by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Nabha was also seen as more experienced.
Channi opposed the induction of both Pargat and Nagra, saying they were holding important positions in party, but failed to block Pargat. In all, six ministers are from the Majha region of Punjab, while the rest are from Malwa. At 43, Warring is the youngest minister, while Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, 78, is the oldest.
Dropped state ministers upset
One of the dropped ministers, Balbir Singh Sidhu, broke down, asking “What is my fault?” while addressing the media. So did Gurpreet Singh Kangar. AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat said they would be as adjusted in the party and/or the government