Politics: Bhagwant Mann lets Sarari go, brings in Dr Balbir in Cabinet rejig

Bowing before the pressure from the Opposition, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accepted resignation of Horticulture Minister Fauja Singh Sarari and inducted Dr Balbir Singh as new Health Minister in a rejig of his Council of Ministers.

After the reshuffle, he also  reallocated the portfolios of Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer and Harjot Bains. Now Higher Education has gone from Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer to Harjot Bains while Mines and Geology, earlier held by  Harjot Bains, goes to Meet Hayer.

Dr Balbir Singh, who  took oath as Cabinet Minister  on Saturday becomes the third  Health and Family Welfare Minister in the nearly 10-month old ministry. He comes in place of Chetan Singh Jouramajra who  has been given charge of all departments that were held by  Sarari.

A series of swift political movements were witnessed last weekend as Punjab Horticulture Minister Fauja Singh Sarari put in his papers months after his name came up in a case of devising an extortion plan. The Chief Minister instantly forwarded his resignation to the Governor for acceptance and decided to go for Cabinet expansion. He included Dr Balbir Singh in the Cabinet.

Sarari becomes the second minister in the Aam Aadmi Party government to make an unceremonious exit from the Cabinet. Earlier, Dr Vijay Singla was asked to resign from the Cabinet after alleged corruption charges.

Sarari was inducted in the Cabinet in July. In September, an audio clip went viral, wherein he was allegedly heard discussing an extortion plan to trap food grain transporters. The audio clip was leaked by his close aide turned foe Tarsem Lal Kapoor. Sarari has constantly denied the charges maintaining that the audio was doctored.

Though he was served a notice to explain his conduct with regard to the audio clip, he reportedly did not respond. As the pressure was mounting, Sarari was reportedly advised to submit his resignation rather than getting sacked from the Council of Ministers. Accordingly, he decided to go for an honorary exit from the Council of Ministers.

Prabhjot Singh