2 turbaned Sikhs in Team Modi, Akali MPs miss the bus again
Hardeep S Puri new entrant, Ahluwalia’s portfolio changed
CHANDIGARH: With the induction of former diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri in the Union council of ministers on Sunday, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre now has two turbaned Sikhs.
However, the two ministers of state are not from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), an ally of the saffron party.
While Puri bagged a key portfolio of housing and urban development, minister of state for agriculture SS Ahluwalia has now been given drinking water and sanitation.
The SAD has only one representative in the Union council of ministers, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who too holds the not-so-important portfolio of food processing.
However, sources said the Akali Dal itself is responsible for its failure to get one more of its MPs included in the Union cabinet.
They said the BJP had initially shown the inclination to induct one more SAD MP in the cabinet and feelers were sent to the Akali Dal leadership in this regard. However, the SAD leaders did not follow up the matter effectively.
CHANDUMAJRA COULD HAVE BEEN INDUCTED, SAYS DHINDSA
“(Prem Singh) Chandumajra could have been the choice, but I don’t know what happened. No idea what transpired between SAD and BJP leaders,” Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who is recuperating after heart bypass surgery, said while talking to HT.
“My party could have taken it up with the BJP. I don’t think there’s a ratio formula. Though we are a minor ally as far as our strength in the Parliament is concerned, our ties with the BJP are the oldest and strong,” he said.
Chandumajra, who is MP from Anandpur Sahib, was in the race for the ministerial berth and sources in the BJP revealed that the saffron party was keen to take him in. There are a total of seven MPs of SAD in the two houses of Parliament, out of which five are turbaned Sikhs (see box).
Barring Dhindsa and Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, both of whom are 79-year-old, all other party MPs fit into the under-75 criterion of Modi to become a minister in the Union cabinet, source said.
MADE NO ATTEMPTS TO SEEK ANOTHER BERTH, SAYS BHUNDER
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder said his party had not made any attempts to seek a second ministerial berth in the NDA government.
With age on his side, Chandumajra, 67, could have been the possible choice as turbaned Sikh leader from SAD, because Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, 55, had fallen from the favour of the party high command, including SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, after he secured the Congress ticket for his son Davinder Singh Ghubaya from
(Prem Singh) Chandumajra could have been the choice, but I don’t know what happened. No idea what transpired between SAD and BJP leaders. SUKHDEV SINGH DHINDSA, Rajya Sabha MP We can’t ask for a berth in the Union cabinet on our own. Had they felt it appropriate they would have asked us to send a name. BALWINDER SINGH BHUNDER, Rajya Sabha MP
Fazilka constituency in the assembly polls in February this year.
“What can I say now. If they had called me I could have taken oath,” said Chandumajra.
“We can’t ask for a berth in the Union cabinet on our own. Had they felt it appropriate they would have asked us to send a name,” said Bhunder, 72.
“We want the country to grow and harmony to prevail. It doesn’t matter how many ministers we have from our party,” he added, trying to wriggle out of the issue with a philosophical note.