CHANDIGARH: Leader of the dissidents in the state Congress party, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, was sworn in as the first ever Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab in the 42member cabinet led by Harcharan Singh Brar. The reconstituted cabinet would now have 22 ministers in the cabinet rank including the chief minister and the deputy chief minister and 20 ministers of state. The entire council of ministers has been reshuffled as part of the exercise to end the two month older is in the party.
Brar earlier in the day secured the resignations of all his ministers to pave the way for the reconstitution of the cabinet to implement the patch up formula proposed by the party high command. The 42member cabinet has now 21 ministers from the Brar camp, 16 from the dissidents and five ministers have been inducted as nominees of the Center. The swearing in ceremony was delayed by about an hour to give a final touch to the cabinet. Governor B.K.N. Chhibber administered the oath at a largely attended ceremony on the Raj Bhavan lawns. Former union ministers Pranab Mukherjee who has been handling the Punjab Congress crisis and Bhuvanesh Chaturvedi were present as central observers also attended the Congress Legislature Party meeting in the morning. The chief minister said the portfolios would be allocated on August 8.
The cabinet rank ministers from the Brar camp include Kewal Krishan, Gurchet Singh Bhullar, Sardul Singh, Avtar Singh Brar, Partap Singh Bajwa, Surjit Kaur Kalkat, Avtar Henry, Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Khushal Behal and Jagjit Singh Chaudhary. Brahm Mohindra, Maninderjit Singh Bitta, Mohinder Singh Gill and Sajjan Kumar Jakhar have been inducted as nominees of the party high command. Those given representation from the dissidents camp are Lakhmir Singh Randhawa, Joginder Singh Mann, Balmukand Sharma, Jai Kishan Saini, Lal Singh and Raghunath Sahai Puri.
Talking to the media persons after the ceremony, Brar said the crisis appeared to be over and he was very happy. The cabinet would be expanded shortly. He said no body had been defeated and nobody had emerged victorious in the resolution of the crisis. About the prospects of the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections after achieving unity, the chief minister said, “We will win the election.” The postings and transfers ordered last week would be implemented, he added.
Mukherjee said some institutional arrangement was being worked out with representatives from the party high command and the state for the smooth functioning of the government and the party. The dissidents had spearheaded the movement against Brar arguing he was unfit to lead the party in the Assembly elections. Mukherjee, however, was of the view that no individual could be blamed for the defeat or take credit for victory. He made it clears that Brar would continue to be the leader of the CLP. About the future of Pradesh Congress Committee president Virendra Kataria, the former Union minister said, “Kataria continues. He has been appointed only recently.”
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1996
