ine months after becoming Haryana’s Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday expanded his Cabinet for the first time inducting three new ministers.
With the induction of three ministers, the Khattar government will now have total 13 ministers including the Chief Minister.
Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of affirmation and secrecy to three legislators at a ceremony held at Haryana Raj Bhawan here.
The three newly inducted ministers are — Krishan Lal Panwar (Cabinet rank), Ghanshyam Saraf (Minister of state with Independent charge) and Nayab Singh Saini (Minister of state).
Later, at a separate venue, the Chief Minister administered the oath to four party legislators as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.
They are Shyam Singh Rana, MLA from Radaur in Yamunanagar district, Bakhshish Singh Virk, MLA from Assandh in Karnal district and the lone Sikh face among BJP MLAs, Seema Trikha, MLA from Badhkal in Faridabad and Kamal Gupta, legislator from Hisar.
While the newly sworn-in Ministers and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries took oath in Hindi, Bakhshish Singh Virk took oath in Punjabi.
Krishan Lal Panwar is an MLA from Israna (Reserved) Assembly constituency in Panipat district while Ghanshyam Saraf and Nayab Saini represent Bhiwani and Naraingarh Assembly seats respectively.
Panwar, who belongs to Dalit community, is a five—time MLA, who had switched over to BJP ahead of 2014 Haryana Assembly polls. He had contested 2009 Assembly polls on INLD ticket.
After the expansion of the Cabinet, apart from the Chief Minister, there are seven Cabinet Ministers, two Ministers of State with Independent charge and three Ministers of State. Besides, there are four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.
One more MLA can be accommodated in the Cabinet, which can have 13 members, including the Chief Minister.
The portfolio allocation to the new ministers would be done later.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and BJP In-charge, Haryana affairs, Anil Jain, Ministers in the Khattar Cabinet including Capt Abhimanyu, Anil Vij, Ram Bilas Sharma, Kavita Jain, besides Chief Secretary D S Dhesi, Principal Secretary to Khattar, Sanjeev Kaushal, were also present at both the venues.
The BJP had formed government in Haryana for the first time on its own strength. Elections to the 90—member state Assembly were held in October last year and the saffron party had wrested power from the Congress.
Northern belt of Haryana, which the BJP before the 2014 Assembly polls claimed that it remained “neglected” under the previous Congress regime, has emerged as major gainer in the Khattar Cabinet now with nearly half of the ministers hailing from the area.
Notably, in the State Assembly polls held in October last year, the BJP had reaped rich gains in the northern and southern parts of the state.
Meanwhile, prior to Panwar’s induction, Krishan Bedi, was the only Minister in the Khattar Cabinet belonging to the Dalit community.
Two—time Bhiwani MLA Ghanshyam Saraf comes from the Aggarwal community and hails from the district, which till now was unrepresented in the Khattar Cabinet.
Mr Khattar picked Nayab Saini, MLA from Naraingarh which falls close to Ambala, as his Minister of State.
Mr Saini is now the second Minister from the Ambala district area besides Health Minister Anil Vij, who share blow-hot-blow-cold relations with CM Khattar, and represents the Ambala Cantt constituency.
Among the CPS who were sworn-in, Seema Trikha is a Punjabi and hails from Faridabad district, an area which had remained unrepresented earlier. B. S. Virk is the lone Sikh face among the BJP MLAs while Shyam Singh Rana belongs to the Rajput community while Kamal Gupta hails from Hisar, where BJP looks keen to expand its base. - PTI
Northern belt of Haryana, termed as neglected by the BJP, has emerged as major gainer
