Thaindian News

Chandigarh, Aug 10 (IANS) Having remained out of power for about 40 days, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal was Monday sworn in as deputy chief minister in the Punjab government headed by his father, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, and got back his previous portfolios too.
In the evening, Badal junior was restored the portfolios of home, information and public relations, water supply and sanitation, NRI affairs, sports and youth welfare and non conventional energy. He had held all these portfolios till last month.

He was administered the oath of office and secrecy as deputy chief minister by Punjab Governor S.F. Rodrigues at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhawan here.

Sukhbir Singh, wearing a white kurta-pyjama and a black half-jacket, took the oath in Punjabi. He then touched the feet of his father Parkash Singh Badal on the dais and his mother Surinder Kaur, who was seated nearby. He greeted other relatives, including his MP wife Harsimrat Kaur.

After being re-inducted, Sukhbir Badal told reporters here: “We will introduce administrative reforms, especially in all public dealing departments, constant monitoring of all major on-going projects on a monthly basis, setting targets for their implementation and fixing accountability of officers for laxity.”

This is the second time within seven months that Sukhbir Badal has been sworn in as deputy chief minister.

He was first inducted as deputy chief minister in the Badal government Jan 21 in Amritsar. He remained in the post for just over five months.

He resigned July 1 after failing to fulfil the constitutional requirement of getting elected within six months of being sworn in.

He got elected to the Punjab assembly last Thursday (Aug 6) after winning from the Jalalabad constituency in a by-election with a record margin of over 80,000 votes.

The swearing-in of Badal junior was simple this time with limited number of invitees compared to earlier at Amritsar, for which the state government had spent millions of rupees.

Ministers of the Badal government, including those from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — the alliance partner of the Akali Dal — Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and other prominent people were present on the occasion.

This is Sukhbir Badal’s maiden entry to the Punjab assembly, while he has been a Lok Sabha MP thrice. He was also union minister of state for industries in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.