PUNJAB CABINET
Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhary, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Razia Sultana, Vijay Inder Singla and Bharat Bhushan Ashu -- were retained as ministers.
A consensus on the names for the cabinet expansion was reached during his meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other senior party members in Delhi, party functionaries had said Saturday.
The party leadership reportedly gave its approval for dropping five ministers from the previous Amarinder Singh cabinet. These include Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Sundar Shyam Arora.
Channi was appointed the chief minister following the unceremonious exit of Congress veteran Amarinder Singh after a prolonged power tussle with state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. Earlier, a section of Congress leaders from the state had written to the party’s Punjab unit chief Sidhu against the induction of former minister Rana Gurjit Singh, alleging he was “corrupt and tainted”. The leaders had also demanded that the cabinet berth may instead be filled up “by giving representation to a clean Dalit leader”.
A copy of the letter was also sent to the chief minister.
Rana Gurjit Singh, after facing flak from the Opposition over allegations of impropriety in the auction of sand mining contracts, had to resign from the previous Amarinder Singh cabinet in 2018. At that time, he had held Irrigation and Power portfolios.
Ahead of the oath taking ceremony, a section of state Congress leaders wrote a letter to Punjab unit chief Sidhu expressing displeasure over Rana Gurjit Singh’s induction in the party, alleging that he was “corrupt and tainted”.
The leaders had also said that the cabinet berth can instead be filled up “by giving representation to a clean Dalit leader”. A copy of
the letter was also sent to the chief minister.
Rana Gurjit Singh, after facing flak from the Opposition over allegations of impropriety in the auction of sand mining contracts, resigned from the previous Amarinder Singh cabinet in 2018. At that time, he had held irrigation and power portfolios.