Ten ministers, including eight first-time MLAs, were on Saturday inducted into the Bhagwant Mann-led government in Punjab. Bhagwant Mann had on Friday shared the names of 10 party MLAs who would take oath as ministers and congratulated them.
Though the AAP government in the state has seen new faces in politics, the party has not trusted any major killer except two in the new cabinet and most of the sitting MLAs.
Exceptions include former leader of opposition Harpal Singh Cheema. MLA from Dirba and Dalit face of the party, Cheema will take oath in the state cabinet. He defeated Gulzar Singh Moonak of Shiromani Akali Dal by a margin of 50,655 votes. Gurmeet Singh Meet Haier is another sitting MLA from Barnala who will be sworn in in the state cabinet.
Meanwhile, the remaining eight MLAs to be inducted into the cabinet are Dr Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh from Jandiala, Dr Vijay Singla from Mansa, Lal Chand from Bhoa, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Ajnala, Laljit Singh Bhullar from Patti, Brahm Shankar from Hoshiarpur. and Harjot Bains from Anandpur Sahib.
Not all big killers who defeated prominent opposition leaders in the recent elections were included in the cabinet list. It is believed that this decision was taken because these MLAs were very new in politics. The party wants him to go through a political struggle before allotting any ministerial post.
From Bhadaur, AAP candidate Labh Singh Ugake, who runs a mobile phone repair shop, defeated former CM Charanjit Singh Channi in a landslide victory. While on the second seat Chamkaur Sahib, the former CM lost his name to AAP’s Charanjit Singh, who is a doctor and had contested against him in the 2017 election as well, but was defeated. However, these two AAP MLAs did not find their names in the first cabinet list.
Former Patiala Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli is another veteran-slayer defeating another former CM Captain Amarinder Singh. Kohli defeated Captain and Vishnu Sharma, the Congress candidate from Patiala seat, while Amarinder and the Congress party had been in this constituency for three decades. However, his name was not in the list of cabinet ministers of the state.
Sunam MLA Aman Arora, who won the Punjab elections with the highest margin of over 70,000 votes, also did not figure in the cabinet list.
AAP also got its biggest surprise from the Long seat, where five-time former CM and 25-year-old MLA Parkash Singh Badal was defeated by AAP candidate Gurmeet Singh Khudian, who is also a former Congress leader.
There are 18 berths in the cabinet including that of the Chief Minister. Five of the ten MLAs represent the Malwa region, four from Majha and one from Doaba.
The only woman to have got a ministerial post is Dr Baljit Kaur, who has won from Malout. An eye surgeon, 46, she is the daughter of Sadhu Singh, who was the AAP MP from Faridkot from 2014 to 2019.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bhagwant Mann at a function held at Khatkar Kalan, the native village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. AAP trounced the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance with 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.
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