Rejig in Punjab upsets 2 more Congress MLAs

Chandigarh, April 21: Two more Congress MLAs expressed disappointment on Saturday for being ignored in the expansion of the Punjab Cabinet, hours before the scheduled swearing- in of the new ministers.

Navtej Singh Cheema and Gurkirat Singh Kotli voiced their unhappiness a day after another Congress legislator Sangat Singh Gilzian resigned from All India Congress Committee ( AICC) and as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee vice president over the issue.

Congress finalised the names of nine new ministers on Friday after meetings, spread over two days, between party chief Rahul Gandhi and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in New Delhi.

Khanna MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli, who is the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, said “old and traditional” families that have won elections for the party should have been considered for Cabinet berths. “I meet all the criteria for becoming a minister but a junior person has been inducted. I fought three elections and won twice,” Navtej Singh Cheema said.

Cheema, who is from Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district, said that he was disappointed that the Doaba region was “ignored.”

“Only one ministerial berth has been given to Doaba ( Sunder Shan Arora) and that too represents the Kandi area. The main Doaba region comprising Jalandhar and Kapurthala, which is known as the NRI belt, is completely ignored,” Cheema said.

“Whenever Congress won seats from the Doaba region, it formed the government,” he said. He said the party picked three ministers from one district but had ignored Doaba.

With the induction of Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Randhawa in the Cabinet, Gurdaspur district now has three ministers.