8 greenhorns over giant-killers in Mann cabinet | India News – Times of India

CHANDIGARH: Eight first-time MLAs were preferred over a few prominent leaders and AAP’s giant-slayers among the 10 ministers who joined Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann’s cabinet on Saturday. Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to them at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan, reports Vibhor Mohan.
Four of the ministers have been elected MLAs on seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes. The party has also tried to give due representation to its stronghold of Malwa region with five ministers, followed by four from Majha and one from Doaba. However, there is only one woman minister in the cabinet. Only two second-time MLAs have found a place in the cabinet; the others had different vocations before taking the plunge into politics.
Prominent AAP leaders who could not corner a cabinet berth for now, contrary to expectations, included two-time Sunam MLA Aman Arora, who won the assembly election by the biggest margin, defeating Jaswinder Dhiman of Congress by 75,277 votes, besides Saravjit Kaur Manuke and Baljinder Kaur. Former top cop Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh was being considered a frontrunner for the home portfolio.
It is believed that with nearly half a dozen giant-killers, the AAP leadership decided not to consider it a criterion for cabinet berths. It did not include Lab Singh Ugoke, who defeated former CM Charanjit Singh Channi from Bhadaur and Jeevan Jyot Kaur, who defeated Navjot Singh Sidhu and Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar East.