Fazilka left out in Punjab Cabinet reshuffle

The Punjab Cabinet was reshuffled on Sunday, and five AAP MLAs got berths in the Bhagwant Mann-led cabinet; however, Fazilka district located at the tail end of the state was denied representation. The district shares borders with Rajasthan, Haryana, as well as Pakistan.

Fazilka was upgraded as a district in 2011 and has four Assembly constituencies — Fazilka, Jalalabad, Balluana, and Abohar. In 2022, three of these had elected AAP candidates — Narinder Pal Singh Sawna (Fazilka), Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy (Jalalabad) and Amandeep Singh Musafir (Balluana). Abohar was the only constituency that elected Sandeep Jakhar who contested on the Congress ticket.

Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy had defeated former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal with a huge margin. Sawna snatched Fazilka seat from Lok Sabha member Sher Singh Ghubaya’s son, Davinder Ghubaya. Musafir had won from SAD stronghold Balluana constituency that had seen Congress candidate Nathu Ram elected in 2017.

Sukhbir was the only minister that represented Fazilka till the polls were held in 2022. A long time ago, Gurtej Singh Ghuriana and Parkash Singh Bhatti of Balluana constituency were members of the state cabinet; however, they were denied tickets later, causing them to switch to other parties.

Since 2022, AAP has been a divided house in some segments of the district, and some leaders were embroiled in indecent controversies, resulting in a change of guards at the constituency level.

Residents of the area said in the past the Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, had visited some villages to address the grievances of people due to contaminated water, which grievously affected the residents of the border area across the river. However, they said there has been no significant project sanctioned since the AAP was elected into power in the state to kindle hopes. Residents said there has been no major development project in the district and those approved by the previous government saw the laying of the foundation stone; however, they were yet to be completed.