In the first Cabinet expansion of the Gehlot Ministry in Rajasthan, 23 Ministers were sworn in at a low-key function in Raj Bhavan here on Monday.
Governor Kalyan Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly elected legislators in the presence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other dignitaries.
The new Council comprises 13 Cabinet Ministers and 10 Ministers of State. The Ministers, including one from Congress ally Rashtriya Lok Dal, were yet to be assigned portfolios. Seventeen of them have got the ministerial berth for the first time.
The Congress has tried to maintain the caste balance in the Cabinet, besides keeping its pre-poll allies in mind, apparently with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The Congress government was formed in the State on December 17, when Chief Minister Gehlot and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot took oath at a grand public ceremony at the historic Albert Hall in Ram Niwas Garden here.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. File
The Cabinet Ministers who took oath on Monday were B.D. Kalla, Shanti Dhariwal, Parsadi Lal Meena, Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Lal Chand Kataria, Raghu Sharma, Pramod Jain Bhaya, Vishvendra Singh, Harish Choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Udai Lal Anjana, Pratap Singh Khachariawas and Saleh Mohammed.
The Ministers of State were Govind Singh Dotasara, Mamta Bhupesh, Arjun Singh Bamnia, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Bishnoi, Ashok Chandna, Tika Ram Jully, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Rajendra Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Subhash Garg, who has won from Bharatpur.
The Cabinet expansion had some surprises, as senior Ministers in the previous Congress regimes, such as C.P. Joshi and Bharat Singh, and former Assembly Speaker Deependra Singh Shekhawat, elected from Srimadhopur, were kept out of the Ministry. The sources in the ruling Congress said more Ministers may be inducted later.
The strength of the Council of Ministers in the State can touch 30, comprising 15% of the total number of seats in the 200-member Assembly.
Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot had returned here on Sunday after several rounds of deliberations with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders for finalising the names of Ministers.
According to the sources in Congress, the Cabinet formation was based on a “power-sharing arrangement” between two rival camps in the ruling party.
Besides ensuring a balance between the old and the new guard, the State Cabinet has given representation to all communities, such as Jats, Rajputs, Vaishyas, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Gujjars, Brahmins and Muslims.
The Cabinet has an erstwhile member of Bharatpur’s royal family, Vishvendra Singh, and one woman, Mamta Bhupesh, but no first-time legislator has been inducted.
The Congress, which won 99 seats in the State Assembly election for 199 of the 200 seats, crossed the halfway mark with the support of its ally RLD. Election in Alwar district’s Ramgarh constituency was postponed after the death of Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Laxman Singh.
