Finally,Bath will get a Cabinet berth

Capt Balbir Singh Bath will be inducted into the Punjab cabinet as a replacement for Manpreet Singh Badal,who resigned as Finance Minister a few months ago. Bath,MLA from Sri Hargobindpur Sahib in Gurdaspur district,will be sworn in as minister on January 16 by Governor Shivraj V Patil.

Bath is a Badal loyalist often named as a ministerial contender. The cabinet already has three ministers from Gurdaspur district: Sucha Singh Langh (Agriculture) and Sewa Singh Sekhwan (Education) of the Akali Dal,and Master Mohan Lal (Transport) of the BJP. Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon too is from Gurdaspur.

Bath and Sarwan Singh Phillaur are two senior Akali leaders,Phillaur was made Chief Parliamentary Secretary when the government came to power four years ago but Bath was left out.

Leaders had been lobbying for the berth Manpreet Badal had vacated. Others in the hunt besides Bath were Phillaur who wanted to be elevated,and Bikranjit Singh Majithia,Sukhbir Singh Badal’s brother-in-law who has resigned from the cabinet so that Sukhbir could be made Deputy Chief Minister.