DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

The Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government on Monday inducted five MLAs as ministers as it carried out a Cabinet rejig. Governor Gulab Chand Kataria administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers during a swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, among other party leaders, was also present.

Those sworn in included Hardeep Singh Mundian, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Tarunpreet Singh Sond, Ravjot Singh and Mohinder Bhagat. All of them are first-time legislators and took oath in Punjabi. Among the new inductees, three are from the Malwa region and two from the Doaba region. Among the new ministers are two Dalits -- Bhagat and Ravjot Singh.

The Mann government also distributed portfolios to the new inductees.

Mundian was allocated the important portfolios of revenue, rehabilitation and disaster management, water supply and sanitation, and housing and urban development.

Goyal was given mines and geology, water resources, and conservation of land and water, while Sond got tourism and culture affairs, investment promotion, labour, hospitality, industry and commerce, and rural development and panchayats.

Ravjot Singh was given the portfolios of local government and parliamentary affairs while Bhagat was given defence services welfare, freedom fighters, and horticulture.

Mann shed three portfolios of jail, industry and commerce, and housing and urban development.

The jail portfolio has been given to transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar while rural development and panchayats were taken from him.

Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains has been given the portfolio of information and public relations.

The portfolios of Harpal Singh Cheema, Aman Arora, Baljit Kaur, Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal, Dr Balbir Singh, Lal Singh Kataruchak, Harbhajan Singh and Gurmeet Singh Khudian remained unchanged.

This was the fourth cabinet reshuffle of the 30-month-old AAP government in the state.

Earlier, four ministers -- Chetan Singh Jouramajra (public relations, defence services and horticulture), Anmol Gagan Maan (tourism and investment promotion), Balkar Singh (local government and parliamentary affairs) and Bram Shanker Jimpa (revenue) -- were dropped from the Mann Cabinet. Currently, the strength of the Mann-led Cabinet is 15, including the chief minister. There can be a maximum of 18 ministers in the Cabinet.

With the induction of five ministers and dropping of four, the strength of the Cabinet is 16. The Cabinet rejig came days after AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal was released from the Tihar Jail upon being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case. Goyal, an MLA from the Lehra Assembly seat in Sangrur district, belongs to the Bania community. He had defeated former finance minister Parmider Singh Dhindsa and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in the 2022 Assembly election.

Bhagat is an MLA from Jalandhar West. He had won the Jalandhar West bypoll in July after defeating BJP's Sheetal Angural. The son of former minister and former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal, Bhagat joined the AAP after quitting the BJP last year. He had unsuccessfully contested this seat in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket.
(editor@dailyworld.in)