CHAPPAR CHIRI (PUNJAB) – With 85-year-old Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal at the helm, it’s mostly the old faces that stand out in the newly sworn Punjab Cabinet, whose average age comes to 60 years.
Badal is the oldest member of his Council of Ministers, which comprises 17 other Cabinet-rank ministers, including his son Sukhbir Singh Badal as his deputy. Badal was sworn in as Chief Minister of Punjab for the record fifth time at a function held at Chappar Chiri, near here, in which other members of his Cabinet also took oath.
In fact, SAD MLA from Majitha, Bikram Singh Majithia at the age of 36 is the youngest minister in the SAD-BJP government, which returned to power in the recently held Assembly polls. Majithia, patron of Youth Akali Dal, is a three-time MLA and brother-in-law of SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal. At 38, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, SAD MLA from Sunam, is the only other young face in the Punjab Cabinet. Parminder, son of former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, was the PWD Minister in the previous SAD-BJP government (2007-12). SAD chief and Jalalabad MLA Sukhbir Badal, whom his father credited with playing a key role in ensuring return of the ruling combine, is aged 50. The lone woman in the Punjab cabinet Bibi Jagir Kaur, MLA from Bholath and former SGPC President, is aged 54. Six-time SAD MLA Sarwan Singh Phillaur (64), Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon (51), Patti MLA, and grandson of ex-Punjab Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairon, Ajit Singh Kohar (71), MLA from Shahkot, Dharamkot MLA Tota Singh (70) and Rampura Phul MLA Sikandar Singh Maluka (62) are among those SAD ministers who are over 50 years of age. Four MLAs of the SAD ally BJP were also sworn in today. Their average age comes to 63 years, with senior leader and Dalit face of the party, Bhagat Chunni Lal (Jalandhar West MLA) being the oldest among saffron leaders at 79.
Other senior BJP leader Madan Mohan Mittal (72), MLA from Anandpur Sahib, has returned to the assembly after a gap of a decade and is an experienced hand. The SAD-BJP alliance got absolute majority in the state polls to the 117-member state Assembly winning 68 seats whereas the opposition Congress bagged only 46 seats
