Punjab Congress likely to induct seven MLAs in Channi-led cabinet; 5 from Amarinder’s cabinet to be dropped

Seven new faces are likely to be inducted in the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Punjab cabinet while five ministers who were part of the Amarinder Singh-led government are expected to be dropped, sources said Saturday With the list of ministers for the new cabinet finalised, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi Saturday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhavan here around 12:30 pm. After meeting the governor, Channi told reporters the oath-taking ceremony for the new ministers will take place at 4:30 pm on Sunday. His meeting with the governor came barely hours after he returned from Delhi having held a final round of discussion with the party high command on the cabinet formation. Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be included in the cabinet, according to the sources. The party is also learnt to have decided to retain Vijay Inder Singla, Manpreet Singh Badal, Brahm Mohindra, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Arunu Chaudhary, Razia Sultana and Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Amarinder Singh government. However, five legislators – Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Sunder Sham Arora – who were ministers in the Amarinder Singh-led cabinet are likely to be dropped, the sources said. A consensus on the names for the Channi-led cabinet was reached during his meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other senior party members in the national capital. Channi was summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command on Friday to discuss the cabinet formation. The visit came within hours of him returning from the national capital. A total of 18 MLAs can be included in the cabinet, including Chief Minister Channi and two his deputies Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni.