Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is slated to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh who will take oath on March 16 at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh.
Captain Amarinder, who steered the party to a stomping victory in Punjab, met Rahul Gandhi at the latter's residence in New Delhi and invited him to attend the ceremony. With Captain Amarinder all set to become the CM, former cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Siddhu is also gearing up to start his innings in Congress on a high note. The voluble leader could be elevated to the post of Deputy Chief Minister, following his stomping victory in Amritsar East and that of the party in Majha region.
Congress won 22 out of 25 seats in the region.
While Singh had been reiterating that decision on Siddhu would be taken by the party high command, other leaders who are all set to get the Cabinet berth is Manpreet Badal, estranged nephew of former CM, Parkash Singh Badal who won from Bathinda (Urban). He is likely to be appointed as the Finance Minister, a post which he had held previously in the Akali Dal.
Among others, Amritsar's first Mayor Om Prakash Soni who was elected for the fifth time as MLA from Amritsar (Central) is also likely to secure his place in the Cabinet. Soni had defeted BJP's Tarun Chugh by 21,116 votes.
Senior leaders, Punjab Congress Vice President Brahm Mohindra, who is a five time MLA is also all set to be given a key post alongwith four time MLA Sadhu Dharamsot from Nabha and Rakesh Pandey who won from Ludhian North.
Out of three woman candidates who registered victories, clamour has been rising for Razia Sultana who won from Malerkotla, wife of Punjab DGP (Human Rights), Mohammad Mustafa. Two time Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chowdhary is also in the race.
Siddhu's close associate former Olympian Pargat Singh, who won from Jalandhar Cantt could also be included in the Cabinet. Singh had joined Congress alongwith Siddhu's wife, former BJP MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Siddhu.
The swearing-in ceremony is all set to be a low key affair, after the PPCC President had announced that no wasteful expenditure would be done. The Patiala scion also requested the newly elected MLAs to keep their personal invitations to the bare and ensure that their supporters also show similar restraint and not clog the roads of Chandigarh and cause hardship for the people of the city.
