The nine-month old Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana on Thursday expanded with induction of one Cabinet rank Minister and two Ministers of State.
MlA Krishan lal Panwar has been inducted as a Cabinet Minister while MlA Ghanshyam Saraf has been inducted as Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge. Nayab Singh Saini has been inducted as Minister of State.
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.
The Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar and State BJP incharge Anil Jain were also present on the occasion at Raj Bhawan.
later, the Chief Minister administered the oath of affirmation and secrecy to four legislators as Chief Parliamentary Secretary including Shyam Singh Rana, Bakhshish Singh Virk, Seema Trikha and Dr Kamal Gupta.
While all newly sworn-in Ministers and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries took oath in Hindi, Bakhshish Singh Virk took oath in Punjabi.
The BJP picked up an SC MlA Krishan lal Panwar, from a reserved Israna constituency in Panipat district for the cabinet berth. Panwar, who had switched over to the BJP ahead of the 2014 Haryana Assembly polls, was rewarded with Cabinet berth by BJP.
Panwar, who is five-time lawmaker, had contested 2009 Assembly polls on INlD ticket. Having associated with the INlD for 35 years till last year, Panwar won four out of five Assembly elections fought since 1991 on INlD’s ticket.
Non-Jat Ghanshyam Saraf, a second-time MlA, comes from Bhiwani district while first-time MlA Nayab Singh Saini represents Naraingarh Assembly seat. Nayab Singh Saini, who comes from a backward class, has been picked up for the Cabinet berth from the Ambala district slot which at present is represented by Cabinet Minister and Ambala Cantonment MlA Anil Vij.
This is the first expansion of the BJP led Haryana Government which already had 10 Ministers, including the Chief Minister, and could accommodate four more as per the constitutional cap of 15% on the size of the Cabinet.
The BJP had come to the power for the first time in the State on its own last year. The elections to the 90-member State Assembly were held in October last and the saffron party had wrested power from the Congress.
After Thursday’s expansion of the Cabinet, apart from Chief Minister, there are seven Cabinet Ministers, two Ministers of State with Independent charge and three Ministers of State.
Also, now there are four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) in the State.
The Cabinet expansion would also mean that Khattar and Cabinet Minister Capt Abhimanyu, who hold the charge of 18 and 13 portfolios, respectively, will offload their burden to some extent. Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, who holds nine departments is also likely to be divested of some departments.