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Fresh Cabinet inductions trigger trouble in SAD Chandigarh, June 9 Four-time Zira (Ferozepur) MLA and senior vice-president of the party Hari Singh Zira, his son and managing director of Punjab Cooperative Bank Avtaar Singh Zira and his wife and SGPC member Jaswinder Kaur Zira have resigned from their positions in protest. Senior SAD leader and three-time Sham Chaurasi (Hoshiarpur) MLA Mohinder Kaur Josh was also unhappy over the decision of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the way she was "overlooked" in Tuesday Cabinet expansion. The Zira family, it was learnt, took the step immediately after the CM announced that Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema, Sohan Singh Thandal and Tota Singh would be inducted in the Cabinet today. Mohinder Kaur Josh, however, preferred to keep 'mum'. When contacted, SAD spokesperson Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema feigned ignorance. "I am not aware of the development. Zira is a senior party leader who commands a high position in the eyes of the CM," he said. On his part, the CM has tried his best to strike a balance between all three regions of Punjab -Majha, Malwa and Doaba - in terms of representation in the Cabinet. It was, however, a different matter that inclusion of Tota Singh in the Cabinet has not gone down well with some party leaders who say that he has been convicted in a corruption case. SAD leaders in Moga are also unhappy with the CM's decision. Tota Singh's induction into the Cabinet has invoked sharp reaction from the state Congress which has asked Badal to explain what were his political 'compulsions' to induct a convicted person into the Cabinet?" Ropar MLA and the SAD secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema is a close confidant of Parkash Singh Badal. By inducting Chabbewal MLA Sohan Singh Thandal, Badal has apparently tried to appease powerful Dalit community in the Doaba region of Punjab. After the resignation of Minister for Jails Sarwan Singh Phillaur over his son Damanvir's alleged links with the drug mafia, there was no one left to represent the community from the Doaba region.Similarly, Badal wants to please Jat Sikhs of the Malwa region by including former Punjab minister Tota Singh (Moga) in his Cabinet. He was convicted of misusing his official position by a Mohali court on May 2, 2012. Zira was not available for comments. Sources close to the family revealed that Zira was upset that Badal had has ignored his long-standing loyality towards the SAD. "Zira is the senior-most member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha after Parkash Singh Badal. How can anyone ignore him?" questioned a family member. After winning the 2012 Assembly elections, CM Badal, it was learnt, had called Zira to his home to express his inability to induct him into the Cabinet and had promised to include him in the Cabinet in the next expansion. Sources said Zira's contention was that all three new Cabinet entrants had lost from their Assembly constituencies - Moga, Chabbewal and Ropar. But the party candidate who won by a margin of 6,000 votes from the Zira assembly constituency deserved a berth in the Cabinet. On the advice of the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Governor Shivraj V Patil accorded his consent to induct three MLAs of the SAD - Daljeet Singh Cheema, Jathedar Tota Singh and Sohan Singh Thandal - into the Cabinet. Dissent brews
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