Bathinda, May 26
“See you in Parliament, in my team,” was the parting message by Narendra Modi to SAD-BJP candidate Harsimrat Kaur Badal as he left Bathinda on April 25 after addressing a rally.

Modi kept his promise today when he, after being sworn in as the Prime Minister, inducted Harsimrat in his Cabinet. She may get the portfolio of Minister of State for Food Processing.

Harsimrat, who became an MP for the second consecutive term from Bathinda and would turn 48 in July this year, became one of the youngest ministers from the state to feature in the national Cabinet even as some senior Akali leaders, who had won more elections than her and have decades of experience, could not find a place in the list of ministers.

Harsimrat’s father-in-law and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and her husband Sukhbir Badal were camping in Delhi for the past almost a week ostensibly to seek a portfolio for a Punjab MP. The Badal family already holds important positions in the state with their relatives Adesh Partap Singh Kairon and Bikramjit Singh Majithia in the state Cabinet.

Modi seems to have chosen youth over experience as Harsimrat was preferred to Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, MP from Khadoor Sahib, whose political experience is second only to the state CM. Prem Singh Chandumajra, MP from Anandpur Sahib, was also senior to her in terms of political experience. Also, Rajya Sabha members Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Balwinder Singh Bhunder, who, too, have vast political experience and are close to the state CM, have not found way into Modi’s Cabinet.

Dhindsa was a Union Cabinet Minister for Sports in the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999-2004. Though he lost elections from Sangrur, he was hopeful of a Cabinet berth as he was still a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley, despite losing Lok Sabha elections to Capt Amarinder Singh in Amritsar, has been inducted into the Cabinet and may get the portfoilo of Finance Ministry besides the additional charge of Defence.

Holding a graduate degree in Textile Designing, Harsimrat has a daunting task ahead as Punjab has been seeking the Centre’s help in setting up food processing units in the state.

The units are needed urgently so that the state farmers can go for diversification of crops and leave the paddy-wheat circle. Punjab farmers have been trying their hands on growing fruit and crop such as maize, which can be taken forward on war footing only if food processing units were located close to the farms.