Chandigarh, March 18
The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday announced its Council of Ministers, who will be sworn in on Saturday morning. Against 17 vacancies in the Cabinet (besides Chief Minister), the party is inducting only ten ministers.
The announcement of new Cabinet was made by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Twitter. Those who he has chosen to be in his team are Harpal Cheema (Dirba), Dr Baljit Kaur (Malout), Harbhajan Singh ETO (Jandiala) Dr Vijay Singla (Mansa), Lal Chand Kataruchak (Bhoa), Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer (Barnala), Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (Ajnala), Laljit Singh Bhullar (Patti), Brahm Shankar (Hoshiarpur) and Harjot Singh Bains (Anandpur Sahib).
Among those chosen to be in the Cabinet, only two — Cheema and Meet Hayer — have been elected for the second term, whilke the remaining eight MLAs have been elected for the first time.
The portfolios to be given to the ministers have not yet been announced. Surprisingly, Sunam MLA Aman Arora, who had won with biggest margin in the election, has not been included in the first list of ministers.
Kotkapura MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan likely to be Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.
Sources in the party say that it was after a series of discussions between the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and party top brass that the names of the Cabinet ministers have been finalised. The Chief Minister, they say, has prevailed upon the party high command in choosing his team.
Sources in the party say that though there was intense lobbying from some of the party MLAs, including a second-time woman MLA and a first-time MLA from Majha, but Chief Minister Mann is believed to be keen on a lean Cabinet initially.
The ceremony to induct these ministers is scheduled for 11 am at Chandigarh on Saturday. Once the ministers are sworn in, they will assume charge in the Punjab Civil Secretariat, and later participate in the first meeting of the AAP government at 12.30 pm. Important decisions regarding bringing a Vote on Account budget and a new excise policy are expected to be taken up for discussion.
