Lone woman among 10 ministers to be inducted in Punjab cabinet on Saturday

By PTI

CHANDIGARH: Ten ministers, including a woman, will be inducted in the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab on Saturday.

Among the 10 ministers, eight are first-time MLAs. The swearing-in ceremony of the Mann’s cabinet will be held at Punjab Raj Bhawan at 11 am, officials said.

In a tweet on Friday evening, Bhagwant Mann put out a picture giving names of the 10 party MLAs who will be sworn-in as ministers and congratulated them.

They include Harpal Singh Cheema, second-time legislator from Dirba and the party’s Dalit face. He was also the Leader of the Opposition in the previous Assembly.

Two-time Barnala MLA Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer will also find a berth in the Mann-led cabinet.

Other MLAs to be inducted in the cabinet are Dr Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh from Jandiala, Dr Vijay Singla from Mansa, Lal Chand from Bhoa, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Ajnala, Laljit Singh Bhullar from Patti, Brahm Shanker from Hoshiarpur and Harjot Bains from Anandpur Sahib.

There are 18 berths in the cabinet, including the chief minister.

After their oath-taking, the newly inducted ministers will assume charge in the Punjab Civil Secretariat and the first cabinet meeting of the AAP government will be held in the afternoon, sources said.

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit had on Wednesday administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bhagwant Mann in a ceremony at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

The Aam Aadmi Party romped home with 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly, decimating the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine.