TRIED HARD BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa
Age: 60 Education: Graduate
Portfolio: Cooperation and jails
Another outspoken minister, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was inducted into the Amarinder Singh Cabinet last April. Known for a no-nonsense approach, he comes from a strong Congress background as his father, the late Santokh Singh Randhawa, was the Punjab Congress president. He is a member of the Majha Brigade, a coterie of leaders trusted by Amarinder, but his proximity with local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu of late has irked many in the Amarinder camp. He is counted among the few ministers who pressurised Amarinder to act against the Badals, especially over their role in police action on the 2015 anti-sacrilege protesters in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan. However, a large section of Hindu leaders in the party accuse him of compelling the government to tow the “agenda of radicals”.
PROMISES: Provision of capital intensive infrastructure at the primary level; reassess credit needs of farmers; strengthen co-operative banking system; remodel cooperative marketing federation; reviving cooperative sugar industry and milk cooperatives besides facilitating Milkfed to set up mega milk processing plants in the state. End corruption in jails and bring reforms. PERFORMANCE: Even as Randhawa took steps to increase productivity in cooperative offshores, including Milkfed and Markfed, the minister made headlines because of the jails department and his anti-badal rant. He took the use of mobile phones in jails seriously and was quick to suspend senior jail officials. However, his promise to install 5G jammers in jails is yet to see the light of the day. In the cooperation department, apart from waiving loans of farmers from co-operative banks, efforts were made to modernise sugar mills. Pending payments of cane growers have not been cleared. Twenty district central cooperative banks were merged with the Punjab State Cooperative Bank and recovery from defaulters increased.
CONTROVERSIES: During the budget session, he criticised his own government before live streaming assembly proceedings for inaction on Akalis, particularly Bikram Singh Majithia. His act of putting a black tape on the Kartarpur corridor foundation stone left the state top brass red-faced. Randhawa was objecting to the names of former CM Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal engraved on the foundation stone. Many even question his approach to suspend jails officials without a proper probe. Few days after becoming minister, he accused then police chief Suresh Arora of not taking action against threats to him.