CM Mann to induct 5 more ministers into cabinet on July 4

Chandigarh : Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann will expand his council of ministers on Monday. Mann is likely to induct five new ministers in his cabinet, including Kharar MLA Anmol Gagan Maan (32), Amritsar South MLA Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar (66) and Guru Har Sahai MLA Fauja Singh Sarari (61).

All three are first-timers and their names were formally confirmed for induction into the state cabinet. Anmol Maan is a youth leader and will be the second woman minister in the state cabinet. A Punjabi singer, she had sung an election song titled “Kejriwal Hai” which was released by the party hours before the poll dates were announced. Her fiery speeches during the farmers’ agitation are still fresh in public memory.

Nijjar is a radiologist by profession and was elected president of the Chief Khalsa Diwan, a 118-year-old Sikh organisation that runs educational institutes, health centres and human welfare projects, two months ago. Sarari belongs to the Rai Sikh community. Before joining politics, he was in police and retired as inspector.

The names of Sunam MLA Aman Arora and Samana MLA Chetan Singh Jouramajra are also more or less final for the ministerial positions, but there was no official confirmation. Arora is a two-time legislator.

The new ministers will be administered the oath of office and secrecy by Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh at 5pm.

The cabinet expansion is the first since Mann took over as the chief minister and formed his cabinet three-and-a-half months ago following the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s historic victory in the assembly elections. It comes days after the party suffered a setback in the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection, a seat vacated by Mann on getting elected to the state assembly and becoming the chief minister.

Punjab can have 18 ministers, including the chief minister, as per the constitutional cap of 15% of the number of members of the state assembly. At present, Mann has nine ministers in his cabinet. He had inducted 10 cabinet ministers, including eight first-timers, on March 19, but sacked health minister Dr Vijay Singla two months later over corruption allegations. The AAP had swept the polls winning 92 of the 117 assembly seats, pushing the Congress to the distant runner-up position with only 18 seats.