After the post of Minister in Punjab, the relationship of the Ministry has finally come to an end and besides the Chief Minister, the portfolios have been divided into Deputy Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers. Chief Minister Charanjit Channy has 14 departments including Vigilance, Personnel, General Administration, Information and Public Relations, Tourism, Power, Hospitality, Excise, Mining and Environment.
There was also a scuffle over the Home Ministry. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa has finally got the Home Department. Besides, he has been given charge of Cooperation and Jails. Second Deputy CM Om Prakash Soni has been given charge of Health and Family Welfare, Security Services Welfare and Freedom Fighters.
Apart from this Brahm Mahindra has been given charge of Local Government, Parliamentary Affairs, Elections and Grievance Redressal Department, Manpreet Badal has been given charge of Finance Ministry, Taxation Department, Planning and 2 other departments, Tripat Rajinder Bajwa has been given charge of Panchayat Department, Animal Husbandry. Fisheries and Diary Department, Aruna Chaudhary has been given Revenue, Disaster Management Department.
Sukh Sarkar to Water Department, Housing and Urban Development Department, Rana Gurjeet to Technical, Education and Industrial Training, Horticulture and Employment Department, Razia Sultana to Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Social Security, Women and Child Development Vijay Inder Singla to Public Works and Administrative Reforms Department, Bharat Bhushan Ashu to Food, Civil Supplies and Consumption Department, Randeep Singh Nabha to Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Food Processing Department, Rajkumar Verka to Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, Department of Energy Resources and Department of Medical Education and Research.
Sangat Singh Giljian has been given charge of Forest and Wildlife Department. Pargat Singh has been given charge of School and Higher Education, Sports and Youth Services and NRI Affairs, Amarinder Singh Raja Waring has been given charge of Transport and Gurkirat Singh Kotli has been given charge of Industries and Commerce, Information Technology and Science and Technology.
Let it be known that there was still a rift in the Channi cabinet over the Home Ministry. MLAs supporting Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa want the home department to be handed over to Randhawa. He continued to be the Chief Minister. On the contrary, Navjot Sidhu was not ready for it. He said that this department should be with Chief Minister Charanjit Channy.
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According to sources, Sidhu’s pressure is also being seen politically. If Randhawa takes action in major cases through the police, Sidhu’s political brilliance may fade in front of him. Chief Minister Channy had approached the high command in the wake of the clash.