There is suspense whether Jail minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia will continue in office after April 30, as he is yet to become member of legislative Council or legislative Assembly with time running out fast.
Sources at Raj Bhawan told 'The Pioneer' on Thursday that Governor Ram Naik has so far not received any request to nominate Ramoowalia as a member in the Upper House of the UP legislature. "The ball is in the government’s court. The CM has to take a call on this," he said.
If the government does send Ramoowalia’s name and it is not approved by the Governor by April 30 for the Council, he will cease to be a minister.
Any person, who is sworn in as minister but is not member of any House (Vidhan Parishad or Vidhan Sabha), has to become a member of any House within six months.
The easy way out for Ramoowalia is the path through Council. The government can send five persons as nominated members of the Upper House and it was expected that his name would be sent soon but it did not happen.
A senior SP functionary said that probably his name was not sent in due time because of confusion over his residential address. In the official diary, Ramoowalia has given his residential address of Ghaziabad.
"You know Governor Saheb scrutinises all inputs given by the state government and there is a fear that Raj Bhawan would object to his nomination because he does not belong to UP," the leader said.
When Ramoowalia was asked as why has the government not nominated him for the Upper House yet, he said: "You are my friend. You know I will not answer this question." So what happens now IJ "Something or the other will happen definitely," he said.
Ramoowalia, who was Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member, resigned from the party and joined Samajwadi Party on October 31, 2015 and was sworn in as a cabinet minister the same day.
Ramoowalia started his political career in 1963 as a student leader and was also chosen MP twice from Faridkot and Sangrur. Over a decade back, he floated his party 'lok Bhalai Party', but later merged it with Akali Dal. He lost the 2015 Assembly polls from Mohali in Punjab as a SAD candidate.