After swearing-in, rivals back to battle in Delhi

Amarjit Singh Samra, Jasjit Singh Randhawa and Surinder Singla, all elevated to Cabinet status, were happy, MoS Hans Raj Josan was circumspect while Gurkanwal Kaur, daughter of late CM Beant Singh, could not hide her feelings over elder brother Tej Parkash Singh’s ouster from the ministry. ‘‘Changa nahi hoya (What happened isn’t good),’’ Gurkanwal said.

Amarinder defended the new team, saying all those who had ‘‘won’’ (read helped the party candidates get a lead in their Assembly segments) in the Lok Sabha elections were in the Ministry. Asked why Bhattal was in even after losing, Amarinder said women had to be given representation. The Deputy Chief Minister, Tej Parkash, his mother Jaswant Kaur and a number of aggrieved ministers were away in Delhi. ‘‘So what if they haven’t come?’’ Singh said at the swearing-in. ‘‘It’s not necessary for everyone to turn up…I have been called to Delhi. I don’t know why.’’

The Chief Minister said portfolios will be decided in a day or two. ‘‘More or less, my mind is made up,’’ he said. Asked whether wholesale appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries would not defeat the very purpose of inducing some austerity through the 97th Amendment, he shot back: ‘‘Then you will say don’t appoint any chairmen (of Boards and Corporations) either…Parliamentary Secretaries are essential now. Younger people must learn. These are all first-timers.’’

He said since there were 18 ministers, each Parliamentary Secretary will be attached with two ministries. The Parliamentary Secretaries are likely to be sworn in soon.