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Brahm Mohindra emerges as only power centre in Royal City
Mohindra is now the lone cabinet minister from Patiala in the Punjab cabinet, so the baton of power had passed on to him, say his supporters in the Congress
Patiala In what observers claim is the turning back of the clock by over two decades in the politics of the Royal City, Brahm Mohindra, the six-time MLA, has emerged as a ‘new’ power centre here. The Patiala Rural MLA is also local bodies minister in the new chief minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi’s cabinet.
In former CM Capt Amarinder Singh’s cabinet, Mohindra was number two, but in Patiala, power was concentrated only in the New Moti Bagh Palace, the Capt’s residence, from where his wife, Member of Parliament Preneet Kaur, called the shots.
From development works, fund allocation, and postings and transfers in Patiala, Preneet managed everything, with assistance from the former CM’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Amarpartap Singh Honey Sekhon. Bureaucrats had also been directed to honour Preneet’s writ.
Such sweeping powers did irk some Congress MLAs in the region who even went to the extent of revolting and holding a press conference, accusing the ‘OSDs’ of interference in their domain.
In spite of all this, power was not shared with the MLAs or anybody else; the New Moti Bagh Palace retained its hold on power. This has been on since 2002, with Mohindra also kept out of the loop. In fact, Mohindra was also forced to shift his constituency from Patiala to Samana in 2002, with former cabinet minister Lal Singh emerging as the new ‘Man Friday’ for Amarinder.
Things turned around in the relationship between Amarinder and Mohindra in 2015, after Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa intervened and got the two senior leaders to be friends. Before this, the two were foes, and publicly so.
More recently, though Mohindra was seen as next to CM Amarinder in the state government hierarchy, he still did not have the freedom to take decisions relating to Patiala, even for departments under him.
Today, Mohindra is the only cabinet minister from Patiala, thus the bureaucracy has to listen to him. His position as the new power centre has been further strengthened by both Amarinder and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, the Nabha MLA, losing their hold on power.
“The message is loud and clear that Mohindra is the only power centre in Patiala. It has been conveyed to the bureaucracy in no uncertain terms. Protocol also dictates that officers are bound to follow the directions of cabinet ministers. Officials has been told to do work of MLAs in their respective areas without any outside interference,” said an official.
A Congress worker said, “This is same position which Mohindra held before the entry of Amarinder into the Congress in 1998. He has regained power in Patiala after 25 years.” Mohindra has thanked the Congress high command, adding that his doors were open and he welcomed all Congress workers and the public to approach him for development and welfare works.
