Sukhbir Badal becomes deputy CM again

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s son Sukhbir Badal became the deputy chief minister on Monday for the second time within eight months.

Sukhbir won the by-election from Jalalabad by a record 82,000 votes defeating the Congress candidate last week. With his induction, the 16-member cabinet has five people from Badal’s family. Badal’s nephew Manpreet Badal is the finance minister, son-in-law Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon is food and supplies minister and another relative, Janmeja Singh Sekhon, is the irrigation minister.

Unlike the last time, when Sukhbir’s swearing-in cost cost the state more than Rs10 crore, on Monday, he was sworn-in at the governor’s house without much fanfare.

Subhbir had to relinquish the office in July as he could not get elected to the assembly within six months of the swearing-in.