Bhagwant Mann Retains Home Dept in Punjab Cabinet, Harpal Cheema Gets Finance Ministry

Bhagwant Mann Retains Home Dept in Punjab Cabinet, Harpal Cheema Gets Finance Ministry

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann, who was sworn in as Punjab's 17th chief minister on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)

On Saturday, 10 AAP MLAs, including a woman, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab.

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Last Updated:March 21, 2022, 17:46 IST
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Punjab's new Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann retained his earlier portfolio of Home department when the state government allocated portfolios to the state's ministers on Monday.

Harpal Singh Cheema was appointed the state's finance minister and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer got the Education Ministry. Dr Vijay Singla was appointed as the Health Minister and Harjot S Bains was made the Law and Tourism Minister.

There are a total of 18 berths in the Cabinet, including that of Mann.

On Saturday, 10 AAP MLAs, including a woman, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab. Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 10 ministers at a ceremony at the Guru Nanak Dev auditorium in Punjab Raj Bhawan. All of them took the oath in Punjabi.

Barring Harpal Singh Cheema and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, eight others are first-time MLAs. Cheema, a legislator from Dirba, was the first to take oath followed by Dr Baljit Kaur, the lone woman in the cabinet and MLA from Malout.

The Aam Aadmi Party bagged 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, decimating the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine, and the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance. In the cabinet, the party gave representation to five MLAs from Malwa, four from Majha and one from the Doaba region.

It has accommodated four MLAs who represent reserve constituencies — Dirba, Jandiala, Malout and Bhoa. Besides, four are Jat Sikhs and two are Hindus.

However, the AAP MLAs who defeated stalwarts, including Congress' Charanjit Singh Channi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, SAD's Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh did not find a place in the cabinet.

Of the cabinet members, Harpal Singh Cheema is a two-time legislator from Dirba and the party's Dalit face. Cheema, 47, had been the Leader of the Opposition in the previous assembly. An advocate by profession, he defeated Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Gulzar Singh Moonak from the Dirba assembly seat.

Two-time Barnala MLA Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer is the president of the AAP's youth wing. Hayer, 32, defeated SAD nominee Kulwant Singh Keetu. He has done B.Tech from Swami Vivekanand Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2012.

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