Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has handed out the portfolios to 10 Congress MLAs and appointed a new Advocate General for the state.
Navjot Singh Sidhu has been given the charge of local government and tourism and culture departments, considered lightweight departments. Prior to the election, after Sidhu had quit the BJP, there was a lot of speculation that he was trying to negotiate a deal to be a CM candidate for the Punjab polls.
The tourism and culture department has a great importance in the northern state. Before the elections, the Badals executed most of the work planned for the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Not only has this to be finished, there are plans to make similar development projects around other Gurdwaras in the state.
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Lakhs of visitors throng the Golden Temple and other Sikh religious shrines in the state and Sidhu's department would handle these works. A high number of NRI and Indian-origin tourists also visit these shrines each year.
The last name on the CM’s list is Congress MLA Razia Sultana, who is the MLA from the Muslim-dominated Malerkotla Vidhan Sabha constituency. Sultana (as minister of state) has been given independent charge of social security and women and child development departments along with the public works department.
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When a new government is voted to power, they appoint a new Director General of Police. The current DGP is Suresh Arora, who has been in charge since the Badal's tenure. The new CM has not yet announced a DGP and Arora is continuing. There are rumours that on the top of the list of officers being considered is Mohammad Mustafa, the DG of Punjab Human Rights Commission. However, since his wife Sultana has been given a cabinet berth, it remains to be seen if the same family will get two important positions in the state though one is a political post and the other is bureaucratic, though both appointments are made by the political leadership.
Installing Mustafa would also mean skipping SK Goel, who is senior to Mustafa. Goel is currently on central deputation with the union Ministry of Home Affairs.
Surprising many, the new CM has appointed Atul Nanda as the state's Advocate General. Nanda is said to be a Delhi-based lawyer and was designated as a senior advocate by the Delhi High Court in January 2011. The lawyer is relatively unknown in Punjab.
As the new AG, Nanda will shift base to Chandigarh and is taking his team of juniors with him, which has sent a chill down the Punjab High Court bar. The state has a very high number of law officers, possibly going beyond 160. A new team of additional, deputy and assistant advocate generals is to be appointed but it may have to wait till legislation comes through on appointment of law officers of the state, This is as per a Supreme Court ruling that required that set criteria be laid down for appointment of law officers, which is often done as political favours.
