Punjab Cabinet expansion likely next week

LAHORE, March 31: The long-awaited expansion in the Punjab cabinet is going to be made next week, raising the total number of portfolios to 22. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan has said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will announce the expansion within a week. After ouster of the Pakistan People's Party from the provincial ruling coalition on Feb 25, the strength of the cabinet had been reduced to eight from 15. Rana Sana said although the Constitution, after the 18th amendment, allows 41 provincial ministers, Mr Sharif believed in a small cabinet. A PML-N official told Dawn that Unification Bloc, the breakaway faction of the PML-Q, was unlikely to be accommodated in the expanded cabinet. According to him, South Punjab will be getting more share in the cabinet, considering the weak party position in the region and the next general election. The recent defeat of a PML-N candidate in Dera Ghazi Khan by-polls also strengthened the view that South Punjab should be focused on by accommodating more and more MPAs from the region in the cabinet. At least four ministers — Dost Muhammad Khosa (Commerce and Investment) from Dera Ghazi Khan, Ahmad Ali Aulakh (Agriculture) from Layyah, Haji Ehsanuddin Qureshi (Religious Affairs and Auqaf) from Multan, and Malik Iqbal Channer (Special Education) from Bahawalpur — are already representing the cotton belt in the cabinet. Sirdar Zulfiqar Khosa, also from the region, is the senior advisor to the chief minister and acts as Shahbaz's second-in-command. Meanwhile, Rana Sana told the media outside the Punjab Assembly that the Unification Bloc faced no disqualification threat for going against the parent party (PML-Q) in support of the PML-N government as the disgruntled group enjoyed majority in Q League. As the House completed 100-day sittings in the parliamentary year on Thursday, the law minister was satisfied at the performance of Treasury. He said besides the important legislation of Local Government and Land Revenue acts it passed 11 bills in the last session and adopted several public interest resolutions. He regretted that the opposition members boycotted the legislative work by absenting themselves from the House. He alleged that four to five woman MPAs on opposition benches were violating the sanctity of the House by adopting a rowdy behaviour, therefore, a couple of privileges motions were carried against them. The minister said the opposition should look for its leader who was missing for the last one week, instead of giving an advertisement for the "missing chief minister".