Chandigarh : Congress on Saturday had finalized the list of new Cabinet Ministers of CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s government. This decision came after 3 meetings held between Congress top leadership and Charanjit Singh Channi. All 15 ministers are ready to take oath on Sunday at 4:30 PM.
Channi took oath as Chief Minister on 20th September has visited Delhi thrice to discuss about cabinet ministers to be on board with reports said. The sources have said that the Cabinet will witness a change.
7 new entrants will be aboarded and 5 ministers from the Amarinder Singh cabinet are likely to be dropped. Some of his loyalists will be staying and the others will be shown the door.
Raj Kumar Verka, Kuljit Nagra, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Pargat Singh, Raja Warring, Rana Gurjeet, and Surjit Singh Dhiman are the new entrants, as per sources. Brahm Mohindra, Vijendra Singla and Bharat Bhushan Ashu are the loyalists who have been retained. Health Minister Balbir Sidhu, Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Sports Minister Rana, and three other ministers – Gurmeet Sodhi, SS Arora, Gurpreet Kangar are likely to be replaced.
Channi has met the Governor Banwarilal Purohit and presumably shared the names with him this afternoon. After the meet Channi tweeted, “I will meet Ministers, MLAs and other political office bearers at my office every Tuesday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm and a Cabinet meeting will be held every Tuesday at 3:00 pm. I’ve also directed all the officers not to leave the office till the cabinet is going on.”
Channi was called to Delhi to discuss about his new Cabinet by the Congress high command. Channi had already reached Punjab when he was summoned again. Curiously, the party high command has not called Sidhu for both the meetings in a row.
“I am the aam aadmi, sitting here while other parties keep talking about aam aadmi. This is the aam aadmi sarkar. It has to take many decisions for Punjab,” Mr Channi, who is close to Navjot Singh Sidhu, declared Monday after taking oath, setting the tone for the assembly elections.
Last week on Saturday, Amarinder Singh resigned from the post of Punjab CM.Party sources said former Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar was being considered as a front runner because the Congress wants to appoint a Hindu leader as Chief Minister, after appointing Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Jat Sikh as the PCC chief.
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