Ten ministers, including eight first-time MLAs, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann led government in Punjab on Saturday. Bhagwant Mann had shared the names of the 10 party MLAs on Friday who would be sworn-in as ministers and congratulated them.
Though the AAP government in the state has seen new entrants with new faces in politics or ground workers, the party has not counted on any giant-killers and most of sitting MLAs, except two in the new cabinet.
The exceptions include party’s former Leader of the Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema. Cheema, MLA from Dirba and the party’s Dalit face, will be sworn in the state cabinet. He had defeated Shiromani Akali Dal’s Gulzar Singh Moonak by a margin of 50,655 votes. Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer is another a sittling MLA from Barnala, who will be sworn in the state cabinet.
Meanwhile, the remaining eight MLAs to be inducted in 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 Shanker from Hoshiarpur and Harjot Bains from Anandpur Sahib.
All the giant killers, who defeated prominent opposition leaders in recent held elections, were not included in the cabinet list. It is being considered that the decision was taken because these legislators were very new in politics. The party wants them to go through a political grind before allotting any ministerial berths.
Labh Singh Ugoke, AAP nominee from Bhadaur who run a mobile phone repair shop, had defeated former CM Charanjit Singh Channi in a huge win. While on the other seat Chamkaur Sahib, the former CM lost his seat to his namesake Charanjit Singh of AAP who is a doctor and had contested against him in the 2017 elections too but lost. However, both of these AAP MLAs couldn’t find their names in the first cabinet list.
Another giant-slayer who defeated another former CM Captain Amarinder Singh is the former mayor of Patiala Ajit Pal Singh Kohli. Kohli defeated both the Captain and the Congress candidate from the Patiala seat, Vishnu Sharma, despite the constituency being held by Amarinder and the Congress party for three decades now. However, his name wasn’t in the list of the state cabinet ministers.
Sunam MLA Aman Arora, who won the Punjab election with the highest margin of over 70,000 votes, has also not found his name in the cabinet list.
AAP also got one of the biggest surprise from the Lambi seat, where former five-time CM and MLA for 25 years, 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 the chief minister. Of the ten, five MLAs represent Malwa region, four Majha and one legislator is from Doaba.
The lone woman who found ministerial berth is Dr Baljit Kaur, who won from Malout. An eye surgeon, 46, she is the daughter of Sadhu Singh, who remained an AAP MP from Faridkot from 2014 to 2019.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit had on Wednesday administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bhagwant Mann in a ceremony at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. AAP romped home with 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly, decimating the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine.
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