In what is widely being seen as a bid to resurrect its image ahead of the Assembly elections in Punjab next February, the Bharatiya Janata Party has denied Cabinet berths to two of its seniormost ministers in a hasty reshuffle conducted following the party high command’s decision to seek resignation of all its Punjab ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries on Thursday.
Both Manoranjan Kalia and Swarna Ram, whose names have figured in a `1.5-crore bribery scandal currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, have been dropped in a move the party’s national leadership hopes will refurbish its own face at a time when it is attacking Delhi’s UPA government for corruption.
But insiders said the reshuffle has also been used to settle other scores both in the dropping of transport minister Mohan Lal and in shifting the firebrand Hindu Suraksha Samiti activist Lakshmi Kanta Chawla from her chosen health ministry to social security and women and child development.
Former forests minister Tikshan Sud, however, was rewarded both with an elevation to the industries portfolio and designated with the leader of the BJP in the Vidhan Sabha.
A total of five Cabinet ministers — Tikshan Sud, Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, Satpal Gosain, Surjit Kumar Jiyani and Arunesh Shakir — and an identical number of CPS’s — K.D. Bhandari, Amarjit Sahi, Dinesh Singh, Sukhpal Nannu and Bishambar Das — were administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Shivraj Patil at the Punjab Raj Bhavan on Sunday morning.
Mr Gosain resigned as deputy speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha shortly before his induction to the state Cabinet.
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Govt takes 142 names off blacklist
AGE CORRESPONDENT
new delhi
May 15: The Centre has removed names of 142 men, including the heads of various Sikh extremist groups, from its list of persons who had been blacklisted from travelling into the country and other parts. These persons, wanted in various cases, have been removed from the government’s blacklist . However, “lookout notices” issues against them continue to exist, government sources said.
The names of three persons, who were also part of the list of 50 “most wanted” men released by the government recently, has been deleted from the list. These include Lakhbit Singh, alias Lakhbir Rode, leader of International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and nephew of dreaded slain terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Lakhbir Singh has been described as the “head of a terrorist organisation” and his name figured at number 44 in the MHA’s “most wanted” list. The deleted names also include Ranjit Singh, alias Manpreet Singh, alias Neeta, a native of J&K.
who heads the Khalistan Zindabad Force and accused of murder, sabotage and bombing in Jammu and Paramjit Singh Panjwar, chief of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) and accused of murder and terrorist crimes in India.
The name of Wadhawa Singh Chacha has also been deleted from the list. Wadhawa Singh, chief of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), accused of shooting police officers in 1981 and the conspiracy to murder then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, had been named in India’s list of 50 “most wanted” men.