After hectic lobbying, disagreements within party and meetingswith Party High Command in Delhi, the Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit SinghChanni has finalised the names for the new cabinet. The swearing-in ceremony hasstarted at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh.
As many as 15 MLAs took oath as Ministers.Among these 15, six of them are completely and one returning to the ministerialberth after three years.
Those taking oath today include Tript Rajinder SinghBajwa, Brahm Mahindra, Manpreet Singh Badal, Vijayinder Singla, SukhbinderSingh Sarkaria, Rana Gurjit Singh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Razia Sultana,Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Bharat Bhushan Aashu,Aruna Chaudhary, Randip Singh and Gurkirat Singh Kotli.
Of these, Randip Singh Nabha, Pargat Singh, Raj KumarVerka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli, are the newfaces, while Rana Gurjit was part of the Capt Amarinder’s cabinet earlier butwas forced to resign after his named surfaced in a sand mining scandal.
Besides, those dropped from the previous Amarinder Singh cabinetinclude Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi, SadhuSingh Dharamsot and Sundar Shyam Arora.
Moreover, it is learnt that the party high command has asked theChief Minister to retain Brahm Mohindra and Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on thesame portfolios.
Meanwhile, the selection of the names for Punjab’scabinet hasn’t been easy for CM Channi and party high command as former flew toDelhi thrice in last few days to hold back to back meetings with Rahul Gandhiand among other leaders.