Punjab Government Reallocates Portfolios Of Five Cabinet Ministers, Includes Newly Sworn In MLAs

AAP MLAs Gurmeet Singh Khudian and Balkar Singh were sworn in as new ministers in Punjab on Wednesday as the Bhagwant Mann government expanded its cabinet.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

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The Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government on Wednesday reallocated Portfolios of five Cabinet Ministers. This comes after Aam Aadmi Party MLAs Gurmeet Singh Khudian and Balkar Singh were sworn in as new ministers in Punjab earlier in the day as the state government expanded its cabinet. The newly sworn in ministers were allocated portfolios. Balkar Singh has been allocated local government and Parliamentary Affairs. On the other hand, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, another newly sworn in minister, was allocated three portfolios, namely, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development and Food Processing.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh. Khudian, 60, is legislator from Lambi seat in Muktsar. He was the party's “giant slayer” who defeated five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal from his home turf by a margin of 11,396 votes in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.

Punjab Government reallocates the portfolios of the five cabinet ministers. pic.twitter.com/1ccK6GP25C

— ANI (@ANI) May 31, 2023

Balkar Singh, 60, is an MLA from Kartarpur reserved seat in Jalandhar. Singh, who was a former police officer, had joined the AAP in 2021 after he retired from the Punjab Police. Singh is a first time legislator. It is the third cabinet expansion of the 14-month old Bhagwant Mann-led government in Punjab.

Punjab minister and AAP leader Inderbir Singh Nijjar tendered his resignation from the Council of Ministers on Tuesday citing personal reasons, said officials. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann forwarded the resignation of Local Government Minister Nijjer from the Council of Ministers to Governor Banwari Lal Purohit for early acceptance.

Informing about the development, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said that in a communique to the Governor, Bhagwant Mann has impressed upon him to accept the resignation of the Local Government Minister, who has resigned from Cabinet on personal grounds, as reported by the news agency ANI.

In July 2022, the Bhagwant Mann government had carried out its first cabinet expansion, inducting five party legislators. In January this year, senior AAP leader and Patiala Rural MLA Dr Balbir Singh was sworn-in as cabinet minister, after Fauja Singh Sarari tendered his resignation. 

In the Punjab Assembly elections held last year, the AAP registered a landslide victory by winning 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly. It decimated the Congress and the SAD-BSP combined. The party’s candidates defeated several stalwarts, including the outgoing chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal.