Chandigarh, Punjab (June 10,2014): Missing a chance to improve image of state government by not inducting Tota Singh in the cabinet, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today inducted three ministers in his cabinet to fill the vacant berths.
Punjab Governor Shivraj V Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a brief ceremony at the Raj Bhawan in Punjab’s “shared” capital Chandigarh.
![Tota Singh (L), Dr Daljeet Cheema (C) and Sohan Singh Thandal (R) [File Photos]](https://sikhsiyasatnews.net/wp-content/uploads/Tota-Singh-L-Dr-Daljeet-Cheema-R-and-Sohan-Singh-Thandal-R-File-Photo-300x171.jpg)
Those inducted by Badal in his over two-year-old ministry are — Tota Singh (Dharamkot MLA), Daljeet Singh Cheema (Ropar MLA) and Sohan Singh Thandal (Chabbewal MLA). With the induction of the three ministers, the strength of Badal cabinet has risen to 18, including the Chief Minister and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal.
As per media reports, while Tota Singh was re-inducted as a minister, as he had resigned in May 2012 after his conviction for a year in a case pertaining to misuse of official vehicle, Cheema and Thandal get the cabinet post for the first time.
Daljit Cheema is a doctor by profession and had been associated with the Badal Dal for the past over two decades, whereas Thandal is a Dalit face of the party.
The three slots in Badal’s cabinet had fallen vacant after resignation by Tota Singh and Bibi Jagir Kaur in 2012 after their convictions in different cases and Sarwan Singh Phillaur had quit the ministerial post last month after his son Damanveer’s name got embroiled in a multi-crore synthetic drug case.
Besides Tota Singh, Thandal was convicted in a disproportionate assets case of 2011 by the vigilance bureau, but in 2013 he was acquitted by the High Court. Veteran leader Tota Singh had been MLA thrice and had remained an education and agriculture minister during his earlier stints. Tota Singh and Thandal are three-time MLAs while Cheema became legislator for the first time after the 2012 assembly polls.
Reacting to the cabinet expansion, Executive Editor The Tribune, Kanwar Sandhu writes on his Facebook wall, “The CM has missed a chance to improve the image by not allowing Tota Singh to the cabinet and by asking Joginderpal Jain to leave his chairmanship of Warehousing corporation”.
