Capt Amarinder Singh, the new Chief Minister of Punjab, has put together a Cabinet that represents a selection of veterans which, if tea leaves are to be read, portends well for the state. He has managed a delicate balancing act. Although there are some who have been ministers before, many are new to a ministerial assignment. Brahm Mohindra, Manpreet Singh Badal and Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa have held ministerial assignments, but the untested Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rana Gurjit Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi are no spring chickens. Some kind of balance has been attempted among Malwa, Majha and Doaba regions. The ministers come from various castes and communities, and two of the Cabinet members are women.

The new Chief Minister needs to be complimented for weaving together a team of administrators, and the initial selection is of officers known for both integrity and efficiency, essential for working towards all-round development of the state. The temptation for any new political chief is always to seek the familiar. This can often be a mistake, more so in the case of Capt Amarinder Singh, whose coterie politics was widely believed to have been a major cause of discontent during his last term as Chief Minister. His successor, Parkash Singh Badal, succumbed to nepotism, which can equally be the undoing of any power figure.

Now that Capt Amarinder Singh’s core team is in place, the pressure would be on him from Day 1 to deliver on the promises, which would, of course, include those made behind closed doors as well as those to the public. If he concentrates on the latter, he will be able to ignore the puerile. The relatively simple swearing-in ceremony should set the tone. Punjab has had to bear the burden of ‘adjusting’ political and other ‘leaders’ in public offices rather than appointing capable individuals who may do justice to the responsibilities assigned. Change is expected by the voters, and those who entrusted with delivering it must keep their focus on the larger interests of Punjab, not just political gymnastics that have long been the bane of the state.