CHANDIGARH: Ministers of the re-constituted cabinet in the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Punjab Congress government were finally allocated portfolios on Tuesday, with the chief minister keeping 14 departments, including key portfolios of vigilance, power and mining.
On chief minister’s advice, Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit allocated portfolios to the council of ministers, which has the stamp of former AICC president Rahul Gandhi. Two deputy chief ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Om Parkash Soni, and fresh faces in the cabinet have bagged important portfolios.
Amid strong demand by the Congress MLAs, as well as, from opposition party AAP to cancel “one-sided” power purchase agreements signed by earlier SAD-BJP regime with various independent power producers, the chief minister choose to keep the power department with him. He will also handle the mining and geology department when there are allegations against the incumbent Congress government of giving free hand to the mining mafia in the last four and half years, including in chief minister’s home district Ropar. Channi will also hold the charge of personnel, general administration, justice, legal and legislative affairs, information and public relations, environment, civil aviation, excise, investment promotion, hospitality, tourism and cultural affairs, and any other portfolio which has not been allotted to any of the ministers.
Deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has been given charge of the powerful home department. Tt was with then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh before he was asked to resign by AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Randhawa had openly spoken against Amarinder for having failed to give justice to the people in the sensitive issues of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and the October 2015 police firing cases at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan, and was angling for the home portfolio.
During the previous SAD-BJP regime, then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal used to head the home department. Randhawa also continues to hold the charge of his earlier portfolios of cooperation and prison.
Amid the ongoing Covid pandemic, second deputy chief minister Om Parkash Soni has been allocated health and family welfare department, besides defence services welfare and freedom fighters departments. He was minister of medical education and research in the Amarinder cabinet.
Among the new inductees, Randeep Singh Nabha, who was dramatically included in the cabinet ministers’ list at the last hour before the oath taking ceremony on Sunday, has got the important portfolio of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, and food processing.. Earlier, the agriculture department was headed by then CM Amarinder.
Manpreet Singh Badal continues to retain the finance, planning and programme implementation departments in the cash-strapped Punjab government. As he is also considered close to Channi, he has been allocated two more departments of taxation and governance reforms.
Most of the eight ministers of the Amarinder cabinet, other than the CM and deputy CMs, who have been retained, continue to head their old departments. However, the important mining and geology department has been taken away from Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria by the chief minister, and Vijay Inder Singla has to leave the school education department which has now been handed over to new inductee and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu’s close confidant Pargat Singh. Hockey Olympian-turned-politician Pargat has also been made incharge of the sports and youth services department, higher education and NRI affairs.
Youngest of cabinet ministers, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has been made incharge of the transport department at a time when the Congress’s own MLAs had been accusing Capt Amarinder of protecting transport business interests of Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal leading to losses of the state government transport.
Out of the total 18 ministers, the Congress government now has nine ministers in the cabinet from Malwa region, six from Majha and three from Doaba. Bajwa is the oldest minister at 78 years and Warring the youngest at 43 years. Congress has got 80 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab legislative assembly.
