Punjab: CM Mann Inducts Dr Balbir Singh InTo Cabinet After Fauja Singh Sarar Becomes The Second AAP Minister To Quit Over Corruption Charges

Senior AAP leader and Patiala Rural MLA Dr Balbir Singh on Saturday was inducted into the Punjab cabinet on Saturday (Jan 7).

The development followed the resignation of Fauja Singh Sarari as Cabinet minister after he was embroiled in a controversy over an audio clip in which he allegedly discussed ways to "trap" some contractors to "extort" money.

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered Dr Balbir Singh's oath at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He was allocated the Health and Family Welfare department.

Dr Singh will be the third health minister within the first year of the AAP government in Punjab. The incumbent health minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra, who has been mired in several controversies, including indulging in the public humiliation of a respected doctor, was stripped of the crucial portfolio and assigned the departments held earlier by Sarari — Freedom Fighters, Defence Services Welfare, Food Processing and Horticulture.

Dr Singh, an eye surgeon, had defeated senior Congress leader Brahm Mohindra's son Mohit Mohindra from the Patiala Rural seat in the assembly polls held last year.

Dr Singh was fielded by AAP in Patiala (Urban) Assembly seat against Capt Amarinder Singh in the 2016 state assembly polls. Singh, however, lost by 52,407 votes.

In May, Dr SIngh and three others, including his wife and son, were sentenced to three-year imprisonment in a 2011 assault case. Later, all were granted bail.

Dr Singh's induction followed the abrupt departure of Sarari, who resigned from the Cabinet on Saturday.

Sarari has been in the eye of a storm since September last year after an audio clip of his conversation with his close aide surfaced in which he was heard discussing "a plan to extort money from officials and transporters".

AAP government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, was on the defensive after the audio clip went viral.

Sarari has been maintaining that he was innocent and the audio was doctored.

Sarari is the second minister in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet to be dropped on alleged corruption charges after Vijay Singla.

In May last year, Mann sacked the then Health Minister Vijay Singla from his cabinet on corruption charges.

Mann said he decided after learning that Singla was allegedly demanding a one per cent commission for all tenders floated by Health and Family Welfare department.

Mann claimed that the decision was taken to ensure that his government remained free of corrupt practices.

Singla was arrested and later released on bail.