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FM’s bête noire Warring is minister, south Punjab share drops to two
Warring, the Giddernaha MLA, is the second minister from south Punjab; two Cong MLAs who have been dropped as ministers are Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi
Bathinda The rejig of the state cabinet under new chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi has reduced the representation of south Malwa to two from three.
State finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who represents Bathinda Urban, has retained his ministerial berth. Joining Manpreet is two-time Congress MLA from Gidderbaha Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, 43. A political bête noire of Manpreet, the outspoken legislator had carved his niche in state politics after winning from Gidderbaha, considered to be a bastion of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), in 2012.
Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, who represented Rampura Phul (Bathinda) and Guru Har Sahai (Ferozepur), have been dropped as ministers. Both were considered close to former CM Captain Amarinder Singh; Kangar was revenue minister, while Sodhi was handling sports and youth affairs and NRI affairs portfolios.
GIDDERBAHA BACKDROP
SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal had won from Gidderbaha five times in a row from 1969 to 1985; later too, the segment continued to be in favour of the Akalis. In 2012, however, a greenhorn Warring had defeated Manpreet, then a Punjab People’s Party (PPP), now defunct, candidate. Manpreet had contested from Gidderbaha for the fifth consecutive time. After this victory, Warring won again from Gidderbaha in 2017.
After the last assembly elections, however, Warring had been sulking as Manpreet, a new entrant to the Congress fold was inducted as a cabinet minister, while his claim was ignored.
Over the past few months, Warring has accused Manpreet of corruption. Manpreet, however, has not responded to the accusations. The Gidderbaha MLA has never retracted his allegations.
On June 27, Warring joined the Akalis in opposing and taking potshots at Manpreet and his aide’s alleged support to illegal mining in Bathinda. He had tagged the then CM Amarinder Singh and sought action against all those involved. “These are the people who are pulling Congress down,” he had tweeted. On July 12, Gidderbaha MLA had demanded disciplinary action against Manpreet for favouring Akali leaders over the Congressmen.
Warring had tagged former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Twitter, urging him to take note of Manpreet’s alleged anti-party activities, and seeking his removal from the state cabinet.
He had also accused Manpreet of interfering in Gidderbaha to weaken him. Warring came to the notice of Rahul’s close aides during the former’s campaigning in 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. He also led the Indian National Youth Congress from 2014 to 2018.
