Badal takes oath as Punjab CM
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India
Amritsar, March 14 2012:
85-year-old SAD leader Parkash Singh Badal was today sworn in as chief minister of Punjab for a record fifth time along with 17 other cabinet rank ministers including his son Sukhbir for a second successive term of the SAD-BJP alliance government.
Badal his son Sukhbir 50 as deputy chief minister and 16 cabinet rank ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Shivraj V Patil here about 25 kms from Chandigarh at a ceremony attended by leaders of various political parties including the BJP, Trinamool Congress, NCP, JD-U and INLD.
Those present on the occasion included LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Vasundhara Raje, Navjot Sidhu (all from BJP), Mukul Roy, Rachpal Singh, KD Singh (Trinamool Congress), Union Minister Praful Patel (NCP), JD-U chief Sharad Yadav and INLD leader Om Parkash Chautala.
The chief ministers present were Narendar Modi (Gujarat) and Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh) .
The exercise of government formation in the state with a 117-member assembly which can have 18 ministers including the chief minister was completed by Badal in one go.
The SAD-BJP alliance got absolute majority in the assembly polls winning 68 seats whereas the Congress got only 46.Badal senior headed full two five-year terms from 1997 and 2007 .
His other terms were between 1977-1980 and 1970-71 .
Only one woman Bibi Jagir Kaur former president of SGPC has been included in the ministry though eight women of the alliance (SAD-six BJPtwo) were elected.
The Badal family has four members in the cabinet.
Besides Badal senior and his son, others are Adesh Partap Singh Kairon (son-in-law of Badal senior) and Bikram Singh Majithia (brother-in-law of Sukhbir) .
Badal has mostly reposed faith in former ministers as only four first-timers find place in the government.
They are Bhagat Chuni Lal and Anil Joshi, both from the BJP and Surjit Singh Rakhra and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, both from SAD.
Rakhra had defeated Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh's son Raninder.
Former deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal has been named as the pro tem speaker of the newly constituted state assembly.
The SAD has created a record in the state since 1966 when Punjab was reorganised by becoming the first party ever to retain power in alliance with the BJP with an improved tally of 68 seats against 67 which the two parties secured in 2007 .
The BJP ended up with 12 legislators as against 19 in the outgoing House.
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