Chandigarh, March 18: A few days after the oath-taking ceremony of new Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, his cabinet will be sworn in on Saturday at 11 am, said the sources.
The sources further informed that CM Bhagwant Mann is likely to have six old faces in his cabinet and discussions regarding the allotment of the portfolios was underway till late Thursday.
Keeping up with the party’s pre-poll promise in Punjab, the state will get two deputy chief ministers from the Hindu and the Dalit communities; meanwhile, 10 ministers will be inducted initially, with the cabinet expanding after a period of time.
Ten prominent names doing the rounds for Cabinet positions include Harpal Cheema, Aman Arora, Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Dr Baljit Kaur, Prof Baljinder Kaur, Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, Principal Budhram, Manjit Singh Bilaspur and Narinder Kaur Bharaj.
If sources are to be believed, three of the 11 women MLAs are likely to be in the Cabinet. First-timer Jivan Jyot Kaur and MLA Baljinder Kaur are expected to be nominated Cabinet ministers, whereas MLA Sarbjit Kaur Manuke is poised to be named Assembly Speaker.
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CM Bhagwant Mann may also induct certain first-timers based on their outstanding election results. Jivan Jyot Kaur (who defeated Navjot Sidhu), Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Labh Singh Ugoke and Dr Charanjit Singh (who defeated former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi), Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy are among the names.
The Cabinet will reflect a regional balance in addition to caste equations and seniority of leaders. Ministers from the state's Malwa, Majha and Doaba regions will also be included in the Cabinet. Since the party won 66 of the 69 seats in the region, the Malwa belt could see more ministers than other regions.
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-PTC News