7 new faces among 15 set to take oath today
CHANDIGARH: Newly appointed Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi is likely to induct at least seven new faces in his cabinet and drop five MLAS, who were a part of the Amarinder Singh-led government, Congress functionaries familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The new Punjab cabinet was finalised after three rounds of discussions with the Congress leadership, the functionaries said. With under five months to go for the state elections, Captain Amarinder Singh resigned as chief minister last Saturday after the Congress summoned a meeting of its lawmakers in the state, saying that he felt “humiliated”.
Channi, who was elected for the top post a day later, met governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday, seeking time for cabinet expansion to fill 15 berths on his council of ministers. “The oath-taking ceremony for the new ministers will take place at 4.30pm on Sunday,” Channi said after the meeting.
Kuljit Singh Nagra, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurpreet Kotli and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be inducted in the new cabinet, the functionaries said. While Verka hails from the Valmiki community, Gilzian represents the other backward classes (OBCS). The five other MLAS are Jat Sikhs.
According to experts, after Amarinder’s resignation, the Congress is trying to balance caste equations in the pollbound state.
Total ministers:
Channi was summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command on Friday to discuss the cabinet formation. The party leadership has reportedly given its approval for dropping five ministers from the previous Amarinder Singh cabinet. These include Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Rana Gurmit Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Sundar Sham Arora.
Eight ministers from the previous cabinet -- Brahm Mohindra, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Manpreet
Badal, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Aruna Chaudhary, Razia Sultana, Vijay Inder Singla and Bharat Bhushan Ashu -- will be retained in Channi’s council of ministers, the functionaries said.
Meanwhile, there was still confusion over the final list as Channi reportedly had a midnight video conference with Rahul Gandhi after some senior MLAS, who got to know that they didn’t make it to the cabinet, conveyed their strong displeasure to the party high command.