New Leadership: Sanjeev Arora Sworn In as Punjab Cabinet Minister
Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): Punjab Governor Gulabchand Kataria administered the oath of office and secrecy as cabinet minister to Sanjeev Arora, who left the Rajya Sabha and won the by-election from Ludhiana West. On this occasion, all cabinet ministers, MLAs etc. including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann were present at the Raj Bhavan.
Sanjeev Arora has taken oath as the 17th minister in Bhagwant Mann's cabinet. This is the 7th cabinet expansion in the nearly 3 and a half year tenure of the AAP government. According to the information, the NRI affairs department has been taken back from Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and the department of Industry and NRI affairs has been handed over to Sanjeev Arora.
According to sources, Dhaliwal has been relieved from the cabinet. He has been asked to resign. On this, Jalandhar MLA Mohinder Bhagat has told that Kuldeep was not in the swearing-in ceremony. The departments will be announced soon. The Punjab government had last expanded the cabinet in September 2024. During this time Hardeep Singh Mundia, Barinder Kumar Goyal, Taranpreet Singh Saund and Mohinder Bhagat were included in the cabinet. While Balkar Singh, Chetan Singh Jodmajra, Brahmashankar Jimpa and Anmol Gagan Mann were relieved.
After winning the Ludhiana West by-election with a huge margin, Aam Aadmi Party leader and industrialist Sanjeev Arora resigned from the Rajya Sabha membership on Tuesday. He submitted his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, which was accepted. Arora was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab in April 2022 and his term was till April 2028. With Arora's resignation, the way has been cleared for him to join the Punjab Cabinet. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's cabinet will now have a total of 17 ministers, including Mann himself. According to the rules, there can be a maximum of 18 ministers in the state government, but the party has decided to keep one post vacant for the time being.