15 Ministers Take Oath in Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi's New Cabinet

The cabinet expansion comes just a few months before Punjab heads to polls in 2022.

The Punjab Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in a meeting.

(Photo: Twitter/CMOPunjab)

New Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi inducted his new cabinet on Sunday, 26 September, at Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh. Six of the cabinet ministers are new and one has returned to the cabinet after three years.

The new Punjab Cabinet Members include:

• Brahm Mohindra

• Manpreet Singh Badal

• Tript Singh Bajwa

• Aruna Chaudhary

• Sukhbinder Sarkaria

• Rana Gurjeet Singh

• Razia Sultana

• Vijay Inder Singla

• Bharat Bhushan Ashu

• Randeep Singh Nabha

• Raj Kumar Verka

• Sangat Gilzian

• Pargat Singh

• Amrinder Singh Raja Warring

• Gurkirat Kotli

After the ceremony, Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat stated that the new cabinet strikes a social and regional balance, reported ANI.

"Those who could not be made ministers today will be accommodated in the government setup and the organisation. This exercise has been done to bring in young faces and strike a social & regional balance," reported ANI, quoting Rawat.

Former Minister Balbir Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Sunder Sham Arora, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, and Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi have been reportedly dropped from the cabinet.

Rana Gurjeet Singh's appointment, who was part of former CM Captain Amarinder Singh’s cabinet, reportedly met with a lot of opposition. According to an NDTV report, six MLAs objected to his inclusion in the cabinet and voiced their complaints in a letter to the Punjab Pradesh Committee President Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Singh returns to the cabinet after being dropped in 2018 over a sand mining scandal he was involved in.