Gurugram: Facing charges of sexual harassment and assault, former hockey player-turned-politician Sandeep Singh was ignored Tuesday by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in the first expansion of his cabinet.
Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered oath of office and secrecy to eight ministers — one Cabinet Minister and seven Ministers of State (Independent charge) — at the Raj Bhavan.
Kamal Gupta, who was sworn in as the cabinet minister, was the first to be administered the oath. The Hisar MLA was a minister in the previous Manohar Lal Khattar Cabinet as well.
Badkhal MLA Seema Trikha, Panipat Rural MLA Mahipal Dhanda, Ambala City MLA Aseem Goel, Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav, Thanesar MLA Subhash Sudha, Bawani Khera MLA Bishamber Singh Balmiki and Sohna MLA Sanjay Singh are the other new members of the Council of Ministers.
While former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was present at the swearing-in ceremony, senior BJP leader Anil Vij yet again skipped the event.
Apart from Vij and Singh, none of the six Independent MLAs who extended support to the Saini government found a place in the cabinet. Haryana can have a maximum of 14 ministers, including the chief minister.
As Chief Minister Nayab Saini and cabinet ministers Kanwar Pal, Mool Chand, J.P. Dalal, Ranjit Singh, and Banwari Lal were sworn in on 12 March, and eight ministers inducted Tuesday, all the slots are filled in the cabinet.
In the morning, Sandeep Singh was seen leading his supporters to welcome Saini when he did a roadshow in Ambala and Kurukshetra on his way to Karnal for BJP president J.P. Nadda’s rally.
माननीय मुख्यमंत्री श्री @NayabSainiBJP जी का कुरुक्षेत्र पहुंचने पर आज अभिनंदन किया। अपने उद्बोधन से माननीय मुख्यमंत्री जी ने सभी उपस्थित बंधुओं में नई ऊर्जा का संचार किया। #AbkiBaar400Paar #ModiKaParivar pic.twitter.com/EnvVOCgt0U
— Sandeep Singh (मोदी का परिवार) (@flickersingh) March 19, 2024
During the budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, the then CM Manohar Lal Khattar supported Sandeep Singh on February 27 after Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal asked pointed questions about the functioning of the sports department.
Bhukkal had also questioned how Singh was replying to her query related to the sports department during the Question Hour when he was no longer holding the portfolio.
In January last year, Sandeep Singh gave up the portfolio of state sports minister after an FIR was registered in Chandigarh on the complaint of a junior athletics coach who accused him of sexual harassment.
Coming out in support of Singh, Khattar had said that the former was a “respectable” cabinet member and warned Bhukkal of “consequences”.
“Sandeep ji mere mantrimandal ke sammaniye saathi hain. Mein apni sarkaar ke kisi bhi mantri ko keh sakta hu jawab dene ke liye. Aapne ye kaha ye uchit nahi hai. Aap iss prakar ki… mein shabad prayog karna nahi chahta… anayatha inn chhezo ke parinaam acchhe nahi hotey hain. (Sandeep ji is a respected companion of my cabinet. I can ask any member of my cabinet to answer your questions. What you said isn’t done. I don’t want to use that word. Otherwise, the consequences of these things won’t be good),” Khattar had said in the assembly,
When ThePrint contacted Bhukkal, the Congress MLA made a philosophical observation about the developments that took place ever since Saini was sworn in as the chief minister.
“Time is the greatest leveler. In less than a fortnight from that incident in the State Assembly, neither Khattar is the chief minister nor Sandeep Singh is a minister,” she said.
Bhukkal further said that the people of Haryana were closely watching how the government patronised those accused of sexual assault on women and that the voters would give a fitting lesson in the upcoming polls.
All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) national vice-president Jagmati Sangwan, too, made a similar statement about the BJP as she gave the example of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Sandeep Singh.
“When the junior athletics coach levelled allegations against Sandeep Singh, Khattar termed the allegations as absurd and said that allegations don’t make a person guilty. Had the complaint not been filed in Chandigarh, the police in Haryana wouldn’t have even registered an FIR against Sandeep Singh,” Sangwan told ThePrint over the phone.
She said that once the Chandigarh Police registered the FIR, everyone expected Khattar to drop Sandeep Singh from his cabinet. Despite demands by the Opposition and women activists, she said, the BJP government protected Sandeep Singh.
It was only because of the grit shown by the complainant that Sandeep Singh was facing prosecution in the court else Khattar had termed the allegations as “absurd” without any probe, she asserted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: ‘No panga with minister’—Haryana woman sprinter’s lone battle against sexual harassment