Harpal Singh Cheema (born 10 February 1974) is an

Aam Aadmi Party The Aam Aadmi Party (; AAP) is a political party in India, as one of the national political parties. The AAP was founded in November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his then-companions following the 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement, popular ...

MLA from Dirba Assembly constituency located in

Sangrur District Sangrur district is in the state of Punjab in northern India. Sangrur city is the district headquarters. It is one of the five districts in Patiala Division in the Indian state of Punjab. Neighbouring districts are Malerkotla (north), Barnala ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. In March 2022, he became first

dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

to be a finance minister of Punjab. He joined the

just before the

2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election A Legislative Assembly election was held in the Indian state of Punjab on 4 February 2017 to elect the 117 members of the Fifteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes was done on 11 March 2017. The ruling pre-election coalition w ...

. He contested and won the election from Dirba Assembly constituency against a popular Punjabi Kabbadi player Gulzar Singh Moonak from

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many ...

and Ajaib Singh Ratolan from

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. In July 2018 he was appointed leader of opposition of

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 members, directl ...

. He is considered as the Second-in command in the Government

Career

A graduate from Government Ranbir College,

Sangrur Sangrur is a city in Sangrur district of the Indian state of Punjab, India. It is the headquarters of Sangrur District. Geography Sangrur is located at . It has an average elevation of 237 metres (778 feet). Climate Health s ...

, and having done his LLB from

Punjabi University Punjabi University is a collegiate state public university located in Patiala, Punjab, India. It was established on 30 April 1962 and is only the second university in the world to be named after a language, after Hebrew University of Israel. ...

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubarak ...

, he also participated in student politics as the campus president of Left-leaning

Students' Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (abbreviated as SFI) is an Indian left-wing student organisation politically aligned to the ideologies of Independence, Democracy and Socialism. Currently, V. P. Sanu and Mayukh Biswas are elected as the All ...

(SFI) while studying law. He led the Sangrur Bar Association in 2014. 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

’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 The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

and

Other Backward Class The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...

. ; Committee assignments of Punjab Legislative Assembly *Member (2017–18) Committee on Government Assurances *Member (2017–19) Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes

Leader of opposition

Fifteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly 2017 Punjab Legislative Assembly election for the constitution of the Fifteenth Legislative Assembly was held in the Indian state of Punjab (India), Punjab on 4 February 2017 to elect the 117 members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The counti ...

was the main

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

party. Since July 2018, Cheema served as the

leader of opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

with

Saravjit Kaur Manuke Saravjit Kaur Manuke (25 July 1972) is an Indian politician and the MLA in the Punjab Legislative Assembly representing the Ajnala Assembly constituency. She is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party. The first time she contested election in 2017 on ...

as the deputy leader of opposition. 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.

Member of Legislative Assembly 2022-27

He was elected as the MLA in the

2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Punjab on 20 February 2022 to elect the 117 members of the 16th Assembly of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 10 March 2022. The Aam Aadmi P ...

. He represented the Dirba Assembly constituency in the

. 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 Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

. The Aam Aadmi Party gained a strong 79% majority in the

sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly Election for the Sixteenth Legislative Assembly was held in the Indian state of Punjab. Polling was done on 20 February 2022 to elect the 117 members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The counting of votes declaration of results was done on 10 ...

by winning 92 out of 117 seats in the

. MP

Bhagwant Mann Bhagwant Singh Mann (born 17 October 1973) is an Indian politician and current Chief Minister of Punjab. He leads the cabinet ministry of Punjab and is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party. He is a former actor, comedian and satirist. He previous ...

was sworn in as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

on 16 March 2022. 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."

Cabinet Minister

As a cabinet minister in the

Mann ministry The Bhagwant Mann ministry is the State Cabinet of Punjab, India headed by the present List of chief ministers of Punjab (India), Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The oath-taking ceremony of Mann was held at Khatkar Kalan village on 16 March 2022. T ...

, Cheema was given the charge of five departments of the Punjab Government: # Department of Finance # Department of Planning # Department of Programme Implementation # Department of Excise & Taxation # 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. # Department of Finance # Department of Planning # Department of Programme Implementation # Department of Excise & Taxation

Electoral Performance

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheema, Harpal Singh Living people Members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly Aam Aadmi Party politicians from Punjab, India 1974 births Punjab, India MLAs 2017–2022 Punjab, India MLAs 2022–2027 Mann ministry Finance Ministers of Punjab, India