Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will move full steam ahead a year after his Government came to power with the addition of nine more faces, majority of them his loyalists, in his Cabinet on Friday evening.
The names of nine legislators, who would swear-in as ministers on Saturday, were finalised following hours’ long deliberations that held for two consecutive days between the party’s national president Rahul Gandhi, Capt Amarinder, besides the state unit president Sunil Jakhar, State party affairs in-charge Asha Kumari, and co in-charge Harish Chaudhary.
Capt Amarinder, who was facing severe pressure from within the party for expansion, has managed to maintain a balance between the young and experienced, and also representing all the regions.
“Happy to announce the names of the new Cabinet Ministers...Congratulation to all!,” was the first reaction of the Chief Minister after the meeting, which he shared on the Twitter.
The new ministers include Dera Baba Nanak MlA Sukhjinder Randhawa, Raja Sansi MlA Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sangrur MlA Vijay Inder Singla, Mohali MlA Balbir Singh Sidhu, Amritsar Central MlA OP Soni, ludhiana West MlA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Hoshiarpur MlA Shyam Sunder Arora, Guru Har Sahai MlA Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, and Rampura Phul MlA Gurpreet Kangar.
The two Ministers of State — Razia Sultana and Aruna Chaudhary — will also be elevated as Cabinet Ministers. With this, Capt Amarinder’s council of ministers would be if full strength—that is 15 percent of the Assembly’s strength.
Even as the Chief Minister maintained that seniority was the key criteria in the selection of the new ministers, the list, approved on Friday, can clearly indicate that every name was Capt Amarinder’s choice. However, Kangar and Arora are said to be surprise picks.
At the same time, the list also threw up surprises as few of the MlAs, who were considered at frontrunners for the post, have been left out. Chances of Indian Youth Congress president Raja Amarinder Singh Warring and Kuljit Singh Nagra — to be young faces and also close to Rahul Gandhi — was high to make it to the Cabinet.
Also, after Capt Amarinder’s announcement of having a full-time Sports Minister, Pargat Singh was considered to be the best choice, but he was also ignored. Besides, the name of Raj Kumar Verka and Sangat Singh Gilzian were also doing the rounds.
Capt Amarinder maintained that the Cabinet expansion would “infuse fresh dynamism into the government as the workload of the state’s nearly 40 departments would get divided among 18 members, including myself”.
He maintained that the ministers have been selected keeping in view their regional representation, along with their capabilities and strengths in line with his focus on giving due representation to all regions in the government.
“For all the new inductees, this would be their first stint as Minister, they are all experienced grass-roots leaders, having won several elections over the years,” said Capt Amarinder, adding that these MlAs were selected keeping in view their seniority.
Youth factor and being a Hindu face worked in favour of Ashu, being a Rahul protege and a Hindu face managed to secure a ministerial berth for Singla.
Soni is said to have been rewarded for his five-time consecutive win, while for Sukhjinder Randhawa, the rural, Jat Sikh coupled with his work in securing Jakhar;s victory in Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll worked. Another Jat Sikh Sarkaria was also inducted.