Harpal Singh Cheema

Harpal Singh Cheema (born 10 February 1974) is an Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Dirba Assembly constituency located in Sangrur District, Punjab.[3] In March 2022, he became first dalit to be a finance minister of Punjab.[4] He joined the Aam Aadmi Party just before the 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. He contested and won the election from Dirba Assembly constituency against a popular Punjabi Kabbadi player Gulzar Singh Moonak from Shiromani Akali Dal and Ajaib Singh Ratolan from Indian National Congress.[5] In July 2018 he was appointed leader of opposition of Punjab Legislative Assembly.[6]

Harpal Singh Cheema
Cabinet Minister, Government of Punjab
Assumed office
21 March 2022
GovernorBanwarilal Purohit
CabinetMann ministry
Chief MinisterBhagwant Mann
Ministry and Departments
Preceded byManpreet Singh Badal
Punjab Cabinet minister for Dept. of Cooperation
In office
21 March 2022 – 4 July 2022
Preceded bySukhjinder Singh Randhawa
Succeeded byBhagwant Mann
Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly[2]
Assumed office
11 March 2017
Preceded byBalvir Singh
ConstituencyDirba
Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Legislative assembly
In office
27 July 2018 – 10 March 2022
Governor
Preceded bySukhpal Singh Khaira
Succeeded byPratap Singh Bajwa
Personal details
Born (1974-02-10) 10 February 1974
Nabha, Punjab, India
Political partyAam Aadmi Party
ResidenceDirba
Alma materPunjabi University, Patiala
OccupationPolitician

Career

A graduate from Government Ranbir College, Sangrur, and having done his LLB from Punjabi University, Patiala, he also participated in student politics as the campus president of Left-leaning Students' Federation of India (SFI) while studying law.[7] He led the Sangrur Bar Association in 2014.[8] As a lawyer, he is also fighting AAP’s Delhi MLA Naresh Yadav’s case in the district courts over accusations of Quran desecration in Malerkotla in 2016.

Member of Legislative Assembly 2017-22

In a triangular fight from Dirba, he defeated Congress candidate Ajaib Singh Ratol and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Gulzar Singh.

In 2017-18 he was in the Punjab Assembly committee on government assurances. From 2017 to 2019, he was in the committee on welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class.[9]

Committee assignments of Punjab Legislative Assembly

Leader of opposition

In Fifteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly Aam Aadmi Party was the main opposition party. Since July 2018, Cheema served as the leader of opposition[10] with Saravjit Kaur Manuke as the deputy leader of opposition.[11][9] His term as the leader of the opposition ended with the dissolution of the Fifteenth Punjab assembly on 11 March 2022. The dissolution was necessitated after the results of the election were declared on 10 March.[12][13]

Member of Legislative Assembly 2022-27

He was elected as the MLA in the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. He represented the Dirba Assembly constituency in the Punjab Legislative Assembly.[14][15] Cheema took oath as a cabinet minister along with nine other MLAs on 19 March at Guru Nanak Dev auditorium of Punjab Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh.[16][17] The Aam Aadmi Party gained a strong 79% majority in the sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly by winning 92 out of 117 seats in the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. MP Bhagwant Mann was sworn in as Chief Minister on 16 March 2022.[18]

In September 2022, Aam Aadmi Party, the ruling party in Punjab, accused BJP of spending ₹1375 Crore in Punjab to bribe the AAP MLAs under Operation Lotus. Punjab's Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said in a press conference, "Our MLAs have been approached with offers of up to Rs 25 crore to break away from AAP. The MLAs were told: “bade bau ji se milwayenge”. These MLAs have also been offered big posts. They were told that if you get more MLAs along, you would be given up to Rs 75 crore."[19][20]

Cabinet Minister

As a cabinet minister in the Mann ministry, Cheema was given the charge of five departments of the Punjab Government:[21]

  1. Department of Finance
  2. Department of Planning
  3. Department of Programme Implementation
  4. Department of Excise & Taxation
  5. Department of Cooperation

On 5 July, Bhagwant Mann announced the expansion of his cabinet of ministers with five new ministers to the departments of Punjab state government. Cheema's charge of Cooperation ministry ended on 5 July with CM Bhagwant Mann taking the charge of the same. Cheema continued to hold the charge of following departments.[22]

  1. Department of Finance
  2. Department of Planning
  3. Department of Programme Implementation
  4. Department of Excise & Taxation

Electoral Performance
Assembly Election, 2017: Dirba[23]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
AAP Harpal Singh Cheema 46,434 32.12
INC Ajaib Singh Ratolan 44,789 30.99
SAD Gulzar Singh 44,777 30.98
Independent Darshan Singh Sidhu 2,875 1.99
BSP Harwinder Singh 2,081 1.44
SAD(A) Mandeep Singh 1,779 1.23
CPI(ML) Gharmand Singh 789 0.55
Independent Bikar Singh 630 0.44
APP Jagtar Singh 369 0.26
Registered electors 174,214 [24]
AAP gain from Swing
Assembly Election 2022: Dirba
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
AAP Harpal Singh Cheema[25] 82,630 56.89
INC Ajaib Singh Rataul [26] 10472 7.21
SAD Gulzar Singh Moonak 31975 22.01
NOTA None of the above 1002 0.69%
Majority 50,655 34.88
Turnout 145257
Registered electors 182,695 [27]
AAP hold

Family

Son of Mehar Singh and Manjeet Kaur, he was born in Cheema village in Dhuri subdivision, he has five siblings, two brothers and three sisters. Now he lives in Sangrur with his wife and a daughter.

References
  1. "Mann keeps Home, 26 others, gives Finance to Cheema; Mines to Bains". 22 March 2022. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  2. Members detail punjabassembly.nic.in
  3. "Government of Punjab, India". punjab.gov.in. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. "Harpal Singh Cheema becomes first Dalit leader to be Finance Minister of Punjab". Punjab News Express. 27 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  5. "2017 Dirba - Punjab Assembly Election Winner, LIVE Results & Latest News: Election Dates, Polling Schedule, Election Results & Live Election Updates". India.com. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  6. "AAP replaces Punjab leader of opposition Sukhpal Khaira with Harpal Singh Cheema - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  7. The Tribune India (20 March 2022). "Three Punjab Cabinet ministers started political innings with Left politics". The Tribune. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  8. "From Bar politics to leader of oppn in Punjab assembly, AAP's Cheema emerges as Dalit leader". The Hindustan Times. 27 July 2018. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  9. "The playing 11: CM Bhagwant Mann's cabinet ministers". The Indian Express. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  10. "AAP removes Khaira, appoints Harpal Cheema as leader of opposition". The Tribune. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  11. "AAP's new leaders after election".
  12. "Punjab Governor dissolves 15th Punjab Assembly". The Statesman. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  13. "Punjab Cabinet recommends Governor for dissolution of 15th Punjab Assembly". The Statesman. 11 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  14. Pioneer, The. "Kejriwal promised to end 'Parcha Raj', says all fake cases to be dismissed". The Pioneer. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  15. "AAP wins 5 of 7 segments in Hoshiarpur district". Hindustan Times. 10 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  16. "Ten Punjab ministers to take oath on Saturday". Tribuneindia News Service. 18 March 2022. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  17. "25,000 Government Jobs For Punjab: New Chief Minister's 1st Decision". NDTV.com. Press Trust of India. 19 March 2022. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  18. "AAP's Bhagwant Mann sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister". The Hindu. 16 March 2022. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  19. "BJP trying to topple AAP government in Punjab, offering Rs 25 crore to MLAs: Minister". Tribuneindia News Service. 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  20. "BJP is calling AAP MLAs, offering money and threatening to join: Punjab minister". The Indian Express. 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  21. "Punjab portfolios announced; CM Mann keeps Home and Vigilance, Cheema gets Finance, Singla Health, Harbhajan Power". Tribuneindia News Service. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  22. "Punjab Cabinet expansion: Anmol Gagan gets tourism; Indervir Nijjar local bodies, Chetan Singh health". Tribune India News Service. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  23. Election Commission of India. "Punjab General Legislative Election 2017". Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  24. Chief Electoral Officer - Punjab. "Electors and Polling Stations - VS 2017" (PDF). Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  25. "Punjab Elections 2022: Full list of Aam Aadmi Party candidates and their constituencies". The Financial Express. 21 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  26. "Punjab Elections 2022: Full list of Congress Candidates and their Constituencies". FE Online. No. The Financial Express (India). The Indian Express Group. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  27. "Punjab General Legislative Election 2022". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
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