The first expansion of Punjab Cabinet is likely before the state's budget session slated for June, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh indicated today.
Amarinder had taken oath as chief minister on March 16 alongwith nine ministers.
The chief minister said Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had given him full freedom in choosing the council of ministers, and he had identified seniority, experience and regional parity as the main criteria in the selection process, according to an official release.
Amarinder said he would ensure that all regions are given due representation in the Cabinet to enable the holistic progress of the state, with no region left out from the development process.
The Cabinet expansion will be undertaken before the presentation of the budget for fiscal 2017-18, said Amarinder, pointing out that the government would only be going in for vote-on-account next week.
The maiden session of the newly-constituted state Assembly is scheduled to commence on Friday.
The Chief Minister said experience and professionalism would be given due importance in all government appointments, including that of bureaucrats and other officials.
He said his government had decided to continue with DGP Suresh Arora as he was a professional man, and the Chief Secretary was changed because of his "close proximity" to the previous regime.
The Punjab government will soon bring in a legislation for the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries, who would be attached to the various ministers, he said.
Reiterating that the recent assembly election was his last, the Chief Minister said his government would introduce a Bill to appoint Parliamentary Secretaries who could be groomed by the ministers for the future.
India is a young country and such a move would help youngsters learn the ropes so that they can take over the reins of governance in the next few years, Amarinder said.
The Chief Minister said he would be happy if the party appoints his successor to look after Congress' political affairs in the state in the last year of his tenure to take over from him when he hangs up his boots.
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"While the Punjab government has already initiated the debt waiver process in the state, it is heartening to see the central government also moving towards the waiver of the debts of the beleaguered farmers around the country," said Amarinder Singh.
The chief minister, who had raised the farm debt waiver issue with the Prime Minister on Wednesday, said he had received an extremely warm response from both, Narendra Modi and Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley, whom he met in New Delhi.
Ruling out any vendetta politics against the Akalis, Amarinder said his priority was development of Punjab rather than indulging in a "vicious cycle of vendetta", and he wanted an end to the era of confrontation.
Unlike the erstwhile SAD-BJP combine government, which had stopped all projects initiated during the earlier Congress rule, his government would continue to support all ongoing projects for the welfare of the people, he added.
He said the absence of a chief ministerial face cost Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) heavily in Punjab, with people suspecting that party supremo Arvind Kejriwal himself wanted the top post.
Despite the hype on social media, AAP failed to build a presence on the ground, which led to its defeat in the polls, he added.
While he did not agree that there could be problems with the EVMs used in the polls, Amarinder said there was a need to analyse why some of the most advanced countries were not using such machines in the conduct of their elections.
The chief minister reiterated his government's resolve to review all decisions taken by SAD in the last six months of their rule and to set up a commission to probe all "false cases" registered by the Akalis against innocent people during their regime.
He, however, ruled out setting up a commission to investigate corruption cases, but asserted that an inquiry would be instituted on any complaint received by his government in this regard.
Referring to the drugs scourge in the state, the chief minister reiterated his government's commitment to its elimination within four weeks, saying he had directed the officers to go after the drugs dealers and smugglers and not the addicts, who would be treated with compassion.
Accusing the Akalis of "shielding" the drugs trade, Amarinder said that if former cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia's name cropped up in this connection he would also have to face the consequences like any other person.
The chief minister said the task force constituted to tackle the drugs problem had been given a free hand to pursue the matter as they deemed fit.
He called for a national drugs policy to deal with the problem of the traditional home-grown cannabis.
Listing farm debt to the tune of Rs 1.7 lakh crore, revenue deficit, industrial crisis, crop diversification, the mafias and unemployment as other major challenges before his government, Amarinder said his government had initiated steps to tackle these problems.
He promised an end to transport, cable and TV and other mafias that had been allegedly promoted by the previous Badal government.
Giving jobs and free smartphones were other electoral promises his government would take up on priority, he added.
