Meet the five new players in Bhagwant Mann Cabinet

Aman Arora: 2nd-time MLA known for oratorical skills

Second-time Sunam MLA Aman Arora is known for his oratorical skills and raising public issues with facts and figures. Many were feeling that “injustice was done to him” when he was not inducted into the Cabinet after the formation of the AAP government in Punjab.

Aman was elected an MLA from the Sunam constituency for the first time in the 2017 Assembly poll. He was re-elected as an MLA in 2022 from Sunam after defeating his opponent by a record margin of 75,277 votes.

His father, the late Bhagwan Das Arora, was also a two-time MLA and minister in the Congress government. Before becoming an MLA, Aman had also contested the elections from Sunam twice, in 2007 and 2012, on the Congress ticket. However, in January 2016, he joined the AAP. Later in 2017, he was made co-convener of AAP. In 2019, he was also appointed chief of the election campaign committee. He did his BA from PU, Chandigarh, in 1996 and has two children — a daughter and a son.

Aman has always been vocal on state and national issues, even when his party was in the Opposition in Punjab. In the recent Budget session, he put the Opposition on the mat and later tried to make the AAP defeat in the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll a big issue. — Parvesh Sharma

Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar: Clean and green Amritsar his priority

The induction of Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar into the Cabinet raised the number of ministers from Majha to five. He will be the third minister from the holy city of Amritsar after Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (Rural Development Minister) and Harbhajan Singh ETO (Power Minister).

Other two ministers from Majha region are Tarn Taran’s Laljit Singh Bhullar and Pathankot’s Lal Chand Kataruchakk.

He is likely to be given either Medical Education or Health and Family Welfare portfolio. Previous ministers from the holy city — Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, Lakshmi Kanta Chawla, Anil Joshi, OP Soni and Raj Kumar Verka — were given either of the two portfolios.

A soft-spoken radiologist-turned-politician, Dr Nijjar won the elections from Amritsar South in his second attempt. He defeated Congress’ Inderbir Singh Bolaira, who had a firm hold over the segment for 15 years.

Dr Nijjar was among 24 persons booked for alleged misappropriation of funds in 2020. He claims the SIT of the Punjab Police had later given him a clean chit.

Dr Nijjar says his priority will be clean and green holy city. His family runs a diagnostic centre in Amritsar. An admirer of Urdu poetry, he loves Faiz Ahmad Faiz. — Neeraj Bagga

Anmol Gagan Mann: Greenhorn hopes to turn tide for Kharar

Singer-turned-politician Anmol Gagan Mann is a first-time MLA elected from the Kharar Assembly segment. The newly inducted Cabinet minister’s claim to fame is that she emerged victorious from the hometown of former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

She sang the AAP’s campaign song in the 2022 Assembly elections “Bhagat Singh, Kartar Sarabha saare hi ban challe, bhai hun jaago aaiyaan, sarkar badlan challey, bhai hun jaago aaiyaan...”

Mann’s father Jodha Singh Mann, a Leftist, hails from Mansa district. The AAP leader, earlier known as Gagandeep Kaur Mann, was only 16 when she was selected for folk, bhangra and giddha competitions in England and Russia.

She is a passout of MCM DAV College, Chandigarh. She can play “tumbi” and harmonium. During her election campaign, Mann, who joined AAP in 2020, had said she may be a political novice, but she had been into social service for several years.

The long-pending matter of the Kharar bus stand, depleting groundwater level and frequent power cuts in Kharar are the immediate challenges before the new minister. Her critics, however, say Mann is not easily accessible to the electorate. — Gaurav Kanthwal

Chetan Singh Jouramajra: Making Samana drug-free on mind

Defeating two heavyweights in the Assembly elections and working hard for the AAP cadre since 2014 ensured a Cabinet call for Samana legislator Chetan Singh Jouramajra.

The first-time MLA defeated strong contenders such as Surjit Singh Rakhra of the SAD and Rajinder Singh of the Congress to prove his mettle. A farmer and businessman by profession, Jouramajra won the seat with a huge margin of 39,713 votes.

The only minister from Patiala, he has been the face of the party in Samana for more than eight years.

The AAP MLA has been associated with the party since 2013. “My supporters and I worked hard to garner votes from villages for Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, who became the Patiala MP in 2014. Subsequently, I was made the Patiala (rural) president,” he says.

Jouramajra hogged the limelight in 2019 when he tried to save a girl from being kidnapped in Tarn Taran. When he saw six youths trying to kidnap the girl, he rushed to rescue her. The youths fired two shots at him, leaving him injured.

Ever since his election as an MLA, he has been working hard to attract industry to his constituency. He has held meetings with the administration and the police to ensure that his segment becomes drug-free. — Aman Sood

Fauja Singh Sarari: From cop to minister, has come a long way

Guruharsahai legislator Fauja Singh Sarari has traversed a long way from being a police constable to a Cabinet minister.

Till a year ago, Sarari had not thought of contesting the Assembly elections. As luck would have it, he not only got elected as an MLA, but became a minister which was like an icing on the cake.

Belonging to the formidable Rai Sikh community which enjoys a strong vote bank in the entire border district of Ferozepur, Sarari retired from the police as an Inspector in 2020. Subsequently, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and got the ticket in spite of being a greenhorn in politics.

“Post retirement, I wanted to serve people. When I was in the police, I was unable to support the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) openly. After my retirement, I had no such constraints,” Fauja said, adding he wished to work for the development of Guruharsahai, which, he claimed, had been hitherto neglected.

“I am against the VIP culture. Whenever I visit my segment, I keep my visit simple. Change begins when we ourselves believe in it. I will try to bring a change in the conventional political system,” said Sarari. — Anirudh Gupta

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