Sikh community demands plum post for Sartaj Singh in cabinet

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Sikh Minority Welfare Committee (MPSMWC) on Friday demanded that community leader Sartaj Singh, who was dropped from the state Cabinet recently, should be rehabilitated with a plum post.

Sartaj Singh (76) and Babulal Gaur (86), who held the portfolios of Public Works Department and Home respectively, were dropped from the cabinet during the cabinet reshuffle on June 30 as they were above the age of 75 years.

"We want Singh should be given a respectful and plum post. He had been former Union Health Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government that lasted for 13 days in 1996," MPSMWC vice president Gurdev Singh Rehal said in a statement.

Singh has been a five-time Lok Sabha member and has even once defeated powerful Congress leader Arjun Singh, also a former union minister. He is serving as an MLA for the second time.

Member of a social organisation of Narsinghpur district, Guru Singh Sabha, Manmohan Singh Saluja said that Singh has been associated with the BJP since childhood.

"There is only one Sikh MLA in BJP and he should be respected and rehabilitated as he is from a community with a population of 15 lakh in Madhya Pradesh," MPSMWC Jabalpur district president Amarjeet Singh Khural and Youth Sikh leader Pankaj Singh (Gopa) said.