Ministerial reshuffle likely
From A.S.Prashar
Tribune News Service

LUDHIANA, October 28 — Several ministers belonging to the SAD and the BJP seem set to lose their portfolios in the ministerial reshuffle which is likely to accompany the Punjab Cabinet expansion slated for early next month.

The Chief Minister, Mr Pakash Singh Badal, is known to be unhappy with the performance, or rather the lack of it, of several ministers. In certain departments, there have been complaints of maladministration and corruption. Mr Badal is expected take into account all these factors while deciding on the reshuffle of portfolios.

Party sources here say the Chief Minister has been toying with the idea of a carrying out a ministerial reshuffle for quite some time now. An exercise undertaken by him in this regard was interrupted by the resignation of five ministers owing allegiance to the former SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, in December last year and the subsequent split in the party.

The proposed Cabinet expansion to fill seven “vacancies” in the Badal ministry has provided him with the opportunity he has been looking for to carry out a thorough overhaul. Although headed by a powerful and competent minister in the person of Capt Kanwaljit Singh, the Finance Department has been in the eye of the storm for some time now because of the debilitating financial crisis gripping the state government.

Empty coffers force the government to scramble for funds at the end of every month to pay salaries to its staff. Attempts at mobilising additional resources have met with only a partial success so far, mainly because of opposition from the BJP which claims to represent the urban population of the state.

According to one school of thought in the party, the SAD might be better off if it hands over the finance portfolio to the BJP. It would rid the SAD of the responsibility of taking risky and unpopular measures for balancing the Budget and raising additional resources.

Party sources say the Chief Minister may also effect a change in the portfolio of the BJP leader, Mr Balramji Dass Tandon, who is in charge of the Department of Local Bodies. The department has attracted considerable flak and adverse publicity for various acts of omission and commission concerning anti-encroachment drives and cases of land grab due to the alleged among nexus among the politicians, bureaucrats and land mafia operating in various towns and cities of Punjab, especially Ludhiana.

The Chief Minister has already instituted an inquiry into large- scale encroachment in Ludhiana worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The Enquiry being conducted by Mr D.S. Kalha,Commissioner, Patiala Division, is still under way.

Presumably, in response to reports of the nexus among politicians, bureaucracy and land grabbers, the Chief Minister has effected certain changes at the bureaucratic level in the Department of Local Bodies. But these are said to have been met with resistance at the ministerial level.

Mr Badal is also said to be unhappy with the working of the Cooperation Department. Party sources here, however, point out that Mr Tandon is the leader of the BJP group in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Capt Kanwaljit Singh is also a powerful minister considered close to the Chief Minister. Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura who is in charge of the Cooperation Department, is a senior party leader.

Therefore, resistance from them to the proposed changes may not be brushed aside easily.A change in the portfolios of these ministers will have a cascading effect on other ministers and may result in charge of portfolios of other members of the Cabinet.