 Lal quickly won the Maharani's confidence, and became her closest advisor - contemporaries assumed that he was her lover, but Lal himself denied this in later life - being appointed to the Council of Regency.In February 1845, he was sent to Jammu at the head of an army to negotiate with Gulab Singh.When Jawahar Singh, who had since been appointed Wazir, was assassinated by the Sikh Khalsa Army on 21 September 1845, Lal Singh was made Wazir of the Sikh Empire in his place on 8 November.