The storm raised by Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu has apparently shaken the seats of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers.
A day after BJP national president Rajnath Singh visited Chandigarh for holding meetings with the BJP and also the SAD leadership on myriad issues including Sidhu’s outburst, the Punjab Government on Tuesday ordered a cabinet reshuffle.
Interestingly, all the reshuffled ministers belong to the saffron party, and include local Government Minister, who was the target of Sidhu’s onslaught. What’s more, the replacement was made with Sidhu’s friend-turned-foe Anil Joshi.
Joshi, earlier holding the ministries of Industries and Commerce, Technical Education and Industrial Training, will now be given the charge of local Government and Medical Education and Research. On the other hand, the “non-performing” local bodies minister Bhagat has been given the charge of Forest, Wildlife and labour ministries.
In an expected, but sudden development, the reshuffle of the portfolios of BJP ministers has been carried out.Even as the BJP leaders maintained that no discussion regarding change of portfolios of BJP ministers or replacing some of the ministers by inducting new faces from the party in the Cabinet took place in the meeting with national president a day before, the move came after Rajnath Singh’s meeting with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal along with entire state BJP leadership.
Time and again, the BJP has been in the eye of storm over the alleged silence of the BJP ministers during the Cabinet meetings, who generally go with the SAD ministers. It has been observed that owing to BJP ministers’ failure to put across the party’s stand on several issues, has led to increasing fissures between the two allies as the BJP has, number of times, pressurized its ally to reconsider slew of cabinet decisions, including e-trip, policy to regularize unauthorized colonies, hike in power tariff, among others.
Even as the party was considering to replace two of its “non-performing” ministers by inducting “in queue” MlAs — former minister Manoranjan Kalia, and former state BJP president Ashwani Sharma. However, it was decided not to make any replacement till lok Sabha elections as it would give a wrong message among voters.
The reshuffle of cabinet Minister was approved by the Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil on Tuesday on the advice of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Besides Joshi and Bhagat, Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal, who was also holding the also the Social Security and Development of Women and Children department, had now been entrusted with the new portfolios of Industries and Commerce, Technical Education and Industrial Training and Parliamentary Affairs.
His portfolios, except parliamentary affairs, have been handed over to Surjit Kumar Jiyani, who was holding Forest and Wildlife Preservation and labour portfolios earlier.