Two days after 10 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab, the chief minister allocated portfolios to the ministries on Monday.
Mann retained home department along with vigilance and personnel. Harpal Singh Cheema was allotted the finance and revenue departments while Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer was given the education ministry.
Dr Baljit Kaur gets women welfare and child development. Dr Vijay Singla was given health ministry whereas Harbhajan Singh ETO gets power ministry. Lal Chand gets food and supply department. Harjot Bains gets tourism and legal departments. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal gets rural development and panchayat department. Laljit Singh Bhullar gets transport department.
The Aam Aadmi Party also announced that it has nominated five members to the Rajya Sabha. The five vacancies are arising as the term of Rajya Sabha MPs – Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and SS Dullo, BJP’s Shwait Malik, SAD’s Naresh Gujral and SS Dhindsa from SAD-Sanyukt – will end on April 9.
The five members nominated by AAP to the Rajya Sabha include Delhi MLA and party’s co-incharge in Punjab Raghav Chadha, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Dr Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal and Sanjeev Arora.
Pathak has been associated with the Aam Aadmi Party for a long time and has been handling Arvind Kejriwal’s warroom. Mittal is the Chancellor of Lovely Professional University who is known for his work in the field of education and social services. Arora is the founder of Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Care Charitable Trust and has served on the governing board of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital in Ludhiana.
The last day for filing the nominations was Monday. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accompanied the party nominees to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat to file the nominations.
Raghav Chadha said: “I have come here for the nomination of Rajya Sabha. I thank Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, who have entrusted me with this important responsibility at such a young age. I will raise the issues of the people of Punjab in the Upper House and work to protect their interests.”