AMN /Chandigarh
With hardly five months to go for assembly elections, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday inducted 15 ministers, dropping five Amarinder Singh loyalists from the previous ministry.
While 15 ministers took oath today, CM Channi and Deputy CM Sukhjinder Randhawa and OP Soni were sworn in last week.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the legislators at a ceremony here.
The new faces in the Channi Ministry are Randeep Singh Nabha, Raj Kumar Verka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pargat Singh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli.
Rana Gurjit Singh has made a comeback, having resigned in 2018 from the Amarinder Singh Ministry after facing flak from the Opposition over allegations of impropriety in the auction of sand mining contracts.
Brahm Mohindra, Manpreet Singh Badal, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhary, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Razia Sultana, Vijay Inder Singla and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who were ministers in the previous Amarinder Singh government, were retained.
Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Sunder Sham Arora, who were ministers in the Amarinder Singh-led cabinet, did not find a place in the new ministry.
In the cabinet, nine ministers represent Malwa, three Doaba and six Majha regions. Two deputy chief ministers were from the Majha region.
The exercise, which has Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s stamp all over it, saw seven new faces finding a place in the Cabinet.
The Congress had in mind social and regional equations in the induction of ministers with AICC general secretary Harish Rawat dubbing it as a “balanced cabinet”.
The Cabinet expansion came a week after Amarinder Singh resigned as chief minister following a bitter power tussle with Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and was replaced by Channi.