Punjab Cabinet oath tomorrow: Who's in, who's out

Chandigarh, Sep 25: Punjab Cabinet expansion will take place on Sunday at 4.30 pm, announced Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

The Charanjit Singh Channi-led Punjab cabinet is likely to induct seven new faces, while five ministers who were part of the Amarinder Singh-led government are expected to be dropped.

Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhavan with the finalised list of ministers for the new cabinet.

After meeting the governor, Channi told reporters the oath-taking ceremony for the new ministers will take place at 4:30 pm on Sunday.

His meeting with the governor came barely hours after he returned from Delhi having held a final round of discussion with the party high command on the cabinet formation.

Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be included in the cabinet, according to news agency PTI.

The party is also learnt to have decided to retain Vijay Inder Singla, Manpreet Singh Badal, Brahm Mohindra, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Arunu Chaudhary, Razia Sultana and Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Amarinder Singh government.

However, five legislators -- Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Sunder Sham Arora -- who were ministers in the Amarinder Singh-led cabinet are likely to be dropped, the sources said.

A consensus on the names for the Channi-led cabinet was reached during his meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other senior party members in the national capital. Channi was summoned to Delhi by the Congress high command on Friday to discuss the cabinet formation. The visit came within hours of him returning from the national capital.

A total of 18 MLAs can be included in the cabinet, including Chief Minister Channi and two his deputies Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni.