The BJP’s Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta and coalition ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)’s Devender Singh Babli from Tohana, were inducted into the Haryana Cabinet on Tuesday. The second expansion in two years took the strength of State’s Council of Ministers to 14, including the Chief Minister — the maximum permissible in the 90-member Assembly.
The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Bandaru Dattatreya at a brief swearing-in ceremony in Chandigarh.
The BJP has given representation to the Bania community — traditional supporters of the saffron party — with the induction of Dr. Gupta, a two-time BJP MLA. The JJP has tried to appease its core vote bank, the Jats, by deciding in favour of Mr. Babli.
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Though Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, the BJP’s Panchukula MLA, also belongs to the Bania community, they had no representation in the Cabinet. The party’s Palwal MLA Deepak Mangla and Mr. Gian Chand Gupta were also in the race for the single ministerial berth of BJP’s quota, but Dr. Gupta, favoured by both the RSS and the State leadership, was the final choice.
Mr. Babli left the Congress to join JJP ahead of the Assembly polls in 2019. He was also the strongest contender for the ministerial berth for having trounced former BJP chief Subhash Barala with a record 50,000 votes, one of the highest margins of victory in the Assembly polls.
The name of former IAS and Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav was also doing rounds in political corridors for the past few months, and he was expected to be inducted replacing Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment (Independent Charge) Om Prakash Yadav, but no changes were made in the existing council of ministers.
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After the cabinet expansion, the BJP has 10 ministers, including CM Manohar Lal Khattar, and JJP, the junior partner in the coalition, has three including Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. Power Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala is the lone Independent MLA inducted as a minister.