Balkar Singh, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian sworn in as ministers in Punjab

Apart from CM Mann and all the Cabinet ministers, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha and Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan were also present during the oath-taking ceremony.

Balkar Singh is a first-time MLA from the Kartarpur constituency in Jalandhar. A former Jalandhar deputy commissioner of police, Singh had joined AAP in July 2021 soon after he retired from the Punjab Police after serving for 32 years.

In his maiden outing in the 2022 Assembly elections, Khuddian had defeated five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal from the latter’s home turf Lambi. Khuddian had a long stint in the Shiromani Akali Dal before he joined Congress in 2004. He resigned from Congress in July 2021 and joined AAP.

After the AAP won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection, it was certain that Mann would induct a minister from the district in his Cabinet. Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat comprises nine Assembly segments of which AAP represents four — Nakodar (Inderjit Kaur Mann), Kartarpur (Balkar Singh), Jalandhar West (Sheetal Angural), and Jalandhar Central (Raman Arora).

AAP’s candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku had secured the highest lead of 10,682 votes from Kartarpur.

During the campaign, however, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia had demanded registration of a criminal case against Balkar Singh for allegedly ‘falsely’ claiming that he has 50 per cent disability to secure a seat for his son as a sub-inspector in the police recruitment process.

Meanwhile, Nijjar, who resigned from the Cabinet, had courted a controversy recently with his comments on vigilance action against Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard, the Editor-in-Chief of Punjabi newspaper Ajit, stating that the senior journalist had nothing to do with the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial funds. Nijjar had stated that if corruption took place, then the inquiry should be conducted against the contractor and others. He had stated that he personally held Hamdard in high esteem .

The Vigilance Bureau had last week issued summons to Hamdard in connection with its ongoing probe into the alleged misuse of funds in the execution of Rs 315-crore Jang-E-Azadi Memorial at Kartarpur in Jalandhar. Hamdard, who had played a key role in the conception and construction of the project, had on April 10 resigned as member secretary of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation and as its managing committee president.

While resigning from the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial Foundation, Hamdard had blamed the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government of “repeatedly maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams”. He had also written to Governor Banwari Lal Purohit citing confrontations with the government and alleging threats from police officials regarding false cases.

Interestingly, the government is silent on Cabinet minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, who is embroiled in a controversy after a man accused him of sexual misconduct. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has already asked the Punjab government to inquire into the allegations and send a report. However, the party leadership has all but given out a message that the “issue is dead”.

This is the fourth expansion of the Cabinet after Mann took charge as chief minister on March 16 last year. He had inducted 10 ministers on March 22, but had dropped Dr Vijay Singla from his Cabinet on May 24 last year. On July 4 last year, he had inducted Aman Arora, Nijjar, Fauja Singh Sarari, Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Anmol Gagan Mann.

On January 7 this year, he had dropped Sarari while inducting Dr Balbir Singh as health minister.

Currently, the strength of the Mann-led Cabinet is 15, including the chief minister. After Wednesday’s expansion, and if Governor accepts Nijjar’s resignation, the strength will go up by one. Punjab can have a maximum of 18 ministers.

After the expansion, Mann will be hosting party MLAs, MPs, and other office bearers alongwith their families over dinner in Chandigarh.

AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be the special guest on the occasion.

A party leader said, “There is nothing much to read in the dinner meeting. It is just a get-together. There is no agenda. It is just that Kejriwal will be here, so we thought it would be good for him to meet all the party leaders”.