In a bid to reinvigorate his Government and put his flagging reform agenda back on track in Haryana, Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar on Friday carried out expansion of his Cabinet inducting one Cabinet Minister and two Ministers of State.
The second expansion carried out on the principle of individual performance saw Manohar lal dropping two of his Ministers namely Ghanshyam Saraf and Bikram Singh Thekedar from the Cabinet.
MlA from Faridabad, Vipul Goel has been inducted as a Cabinet Minister while Manish Grover, MlA from Rohtak constituency and Banwari lal, MlA from Bawal constituency have been inducted as Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge.
Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of affirmation and secrecy as Ministers to these three legislators at a ceremony held at Haryana Raj Bhawan on Friday evening. All three newly sworn-in Ministers, who are first time MlAs took oath in Hindi.
Chief Minister Manohar lal, state BJP incharge Anil Jain, Cabinet Ministers, legislators, senior officers of the State Government were present at the oath ceremony.
Meanwhile, the Governor has accepted the resignations of two Ministers — Ghanshyam Saraf and Bikram Singh Thekedar. Saraf was inducted in the Cabinet as Minister of state in last July while Thekedar was inducted as Minister of State in 2014.
Besides the performance factor, another reason behind dropping Saraf from the Cabinet is seen as the controversy surrounding him following a corruption case in which HC had also issued a notice to him.
Continued on Page 4
Haryana CM inducts three new Ministers, drops two
After Friday’s expansion of the Cabinet, apart from Chief Minister, there are eight Cabinet Ministers, two Ministers of State with independent charge and three Ministers of State.
Vipul Goel, who is a first time MlA, is said to have been rewarded with a Cabinet berth for successfully conducting country’s first digital rally on May 14. The Chief Minister was impressed by the Faridabad MlA following the digital rally held in May this year. He also has several of his achievements as an MlA to flaunt.
Goel has at his own initiative renovated the local cricket stadium, hoisted the country’s tallest Tricolour, planted 2.5 lakh tree saplings in an hour. The Faridabad MlA is also said to be close to Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar.
The other inductee, Rohtak MlA, Manish Grover is said to be close to the Chief Minister and had emerged victorious in Hooda’s stronghold of Rohtak during assembly polls.
The BJP has picked up an SC MlA Banwari lal, from a reserved Bawal constituency in Rewari district for the cabinet berth. Banwari lal, who had switched over to the BJP ahead of the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls, was rewarded with the MoS status and is said to be close to Union Minister of State, Rao Inderjit Singh.
Talking to the mediapersons after cabinet expansion, the Chief Minister Manohar lal hinted that such changes would be made in the future also, based on the performance and requirement.
About reasons for resignation by two Ministers, he said that it is a general process. As the number of Minister is limited in the Cabinet, replacement is the only option to give chance to other legislators, said he
The Chief Minister added that, if required, such changes would also be made in the future.
About the cabinet expansion, Haryana BJP’s in-charge of Haryana party affairs, Anil Jain said that the Chief Minister had recommended these three names for induction in the cabinet. The changes in the cabinet have made to give opportunity to others, he added.
On the other hand, Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala said that the cabinet expansion was done on the basis of performance of ministers.
The talks of a rejig in the Haryana Cabinet has been doing the rounds following State’s Government failure to deal with Jat quota agitation earlier this year in the state.
This is the second expansion of the BJP led Haryana Government. The previous expansion was carried out in July last year.
The BJP had come to the power for the first time in the state on its own in 2014. The elections to the 90-member state assembly were held in October 2014 and the saffron party had wrested power from the Congress.
The cabinet expansion would also mean that Khattar and Cabinet Ministers Capt Abhimanyu, Ram Bilas Sharma who hold the charge of several portfolios, will offload their burden to some extent.