Cabinet expansion in next 2 to 4 days, Arora to be inducted: Mann
Mann held a 25-minute meeting with Kataria, sparking speculation that he had sought time for new inductions in his Cabinet.
4 min read
with a rejig in the offing, the sitting ministers are keeping their fingers crossed. (Source: Bhagwant mann X)Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday said that expansion in his Cabinet will take place over the next two to four days and newly elected Ludhiana West MLA Sanjeev Arora will be inducted into the Cabinet.
Speaking to the media after meeting Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, Mann, who dubbed it a “courtesy meeting”, said there was no decision on the rejig of the Cabinet yet. Mann held a 25-minute meeting with Kataria, sparking speculation that he had sought time for new inductions in his Cabinet.
On whether there will be a rejig, he said, “There is no such decision as of now. It is just that we had promised the people of Ludhiana that if they send (Sanjeev Arora) to Vidhan Sabha then we will induct him in the Cabinet. In 2022, we won by a margin of 7,000 votes. Now, we have won with over 10,000 votes. We need to honour the people’s mandate.”
He added that the expansion will take two-four days. “There will be no change. We had promised people of Ludhiana that if they send (Arora) to Vidhan Sabha, we will give him a berth in the Cabinet. We had promised people of Jalandhar that if they elect Mohinder Bhagat we will make him the minister. People of Jalandhar elected him and he was inducted into the Cabinet,” he said.
Mann said that they are going to Delhi Wednesday to celebrate AAP’s victory. “Gopal Italia has recorded a huge victory in Gujarat. We all will be going to Delhi tomorrow. I will go. Arora Sahib will also go,” he said.
On Arora’s replacement in Rajya Sabha, Mann said, “Kejriwal has made it clear that he will not go to Rajya Sabha. We will think about the replacement. It will be someone who will take up the state’s issues to Rajya Sabha.”
Replying to a question on whether it would be a party’s volunteer or an industrialist, Mann said, “Are industrialists not party workers? Is Sanjeev Arora not an AAP worker?”
Meanwhile, with a rejig in the offing, the sitting ministers are keeping their fingers crossed. Sources in the AAP said that the new induction may take place anytime after Wednesday.
Mann added that he had taken up the issue of allotment of party office to AAP in Chandigarh. “We have won Ludhiana West and in Gujarat. We are a national party. We fulfil all the requirements for getting an office in Chandigarh. I have sought an office for AAP after handing over our demand to the Governor. I met him today on this issue. He has assured that we will get space for office soon. Chandigarh is our capital. We have a right on the capital as per the 60:40 ratio anyway,” the CM said.
On factionalism in Congress, Mann said, “You need to ask them when the factionalism will stop. If the head of the family is not in control then the family does not run for long. AAP is like a family. We all are together. We fought unitedly.” On SAD’s performance, he said, “They polled 8,000 votes out of 90,000. It turns out to be six per cent. Not only Sukhbir Badal, but the entire SAD should quit politics” .
He added that paddy arrival will be advanced this year by 15 days as the government had advanced the transplantation date on June 1. “It will hit the market by September 15. Let us see. We have done this experiment because paddy was reported to have moisture which caused problems in the procurement,” Mann said.
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