Amritsar’s representation shrinks in Bhagwant Mann Cabinet

In the wake of reallocation of Power Department to Minister Sanjeev Arora from Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO, who is now left with the Public Works Department, Amritsar has lost its representation in the Bhagwant Mann Cabinet for the second time in the past 46 days.

On July 3, Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal was divested of the NRI Affairs Department. Both Amritsar based leaders – Dhaliwal and ETO – had to forego their portfolios to Arora, who recently won the Ludhiana (West) Assembly bypoll after giving up his Rajya Sabha seat.

In 2022, there were five ministers from Majha — Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar. Now, the number has come down to three. Laljit Singh Bhullar from Tarn Taran and Lal Chand Kataruchak from Pahtankot are two other representatives in the cabinet.

Dhaliwal was among the first batch of MLAs inducted as ministers into the Mann government. A year later, he was divested of both departments (Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development and Panchayats) and was handed the NRI Affairs and Administrative Reforms portfolio.

On May 31, 2023, Local Bodies Minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar had tendered his resignation citing personal grounds.