By Jaideep Sarin, IANS,
Chandigarh : Punjab’s Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine may have come to power for a record second consecutive term but as many as seven ministers as well as the speaker are among those who lost even in this winning streak.
In the results announced Tuesday, the Akali Dal-BJP combine became the first government in more than 40 years to win a second consecutive term, bagging 68 seats in the 117-member assembly.
The ministers who lost were Upinderjit Kaur (finance), Tikshan Sud (industry), Sewa Singh Sekhwan (education), Hira Singh Gabria (jails), Sucha Singh Langah (agriculture), Ranjit Singh Brahmpura (rural development) and Arunesh Shakir (medical education). Of these, Sud and Shakir are from the BJP.
Badal’s son-in-law, Food and Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, barely managed to scrape through. He won from Patti by just 45 votes.
The Punjab government has a total strength of 18 ministers, including the chief minister and deputy chief minister.
“Keeping the CM and deputy CM out, half the ministers have lost. This clearly shows there was anger against their performance. When the Akali Dal and BJP did well elsewhere, why did these ministers lose? They have been rejected by the people,” a senior Punjab BJP leader pointed out.
That is not all.
Punjab assembly speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon lost from Fatehgarh Churian while deputy speaker Satpal Gosain (BJP) lost from Ludhiana-Central.
Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sukhpal Singh Nannu (BJP) lost from Ferozepur City.
The chief minister and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal won their seats by over 24,000 and 50,000 votes respectively.
Akali Dal sources said that with so many stalwarts losing their seats, the Akali Dal-BJP leadership will be able to accommodate fresh faces in the new government to be sworn-in later this week.
“The chief minister will be able to accommodate new faces,” an Akali Dal legislator and a ministry aspirant told IANS here.
Some senior leaders likely to stake a claim to be ministers include Jagir Kaur (former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president), Tota Singh, Charanjit Singh Atwal (former Lok Sabha deputy speaker) and S.S. Maluka.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at [email protected])