Devi Lal's son among 10 inducted in Manohar Lal's ministry

New Delhi: Four Jats are now part of chief minister Manohar Lal’s council of ministers in Haryana, where the BJP faced the wrath of the Jat community in the recent assembly election and was forced to ally with erstwhile rival Jannayak Janata Party to form the government.

While Jat leader and JJP chief Dushyant Chautala was already the deputy CM, his uncle and former CM Devi Lal’s son Ranjit Singh Chautala, who won as an independent, was sworn in as minister of state (MoS) with independent charge on Thursday.

The other two Jat leaders inducted into the cabinet were two-time BJP MLA JP Dalal, who took oath as cabinet minister, and the sole woman minister from BJP, Kamlesh Dhanda, who joined as MoS with independent charge. Ten ministers were sworn in on Thursday, leaving scope for the CM to add two berths in the future. The JJP settled for one more minister with independent charge, its Dalit face Anoop Dhanak, who won from Uklana for the second time.

He had shifted to the JJP from the INLD. However, the JJP could get another berth at a later stage, according to people in the know. An independent may be accommodated to fill up the vacant berth, they said.

Lal, a Punjabi, opted for only two more Punjabis in the cabinet – hockey player Sandeep Singh and his most senior colleague, Anil Vij. Former assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar was also sworn in as cabinet minister, along with Ballabhgarh MLA Moolchand Sharma, the BJP’s Brahmin face. Banwari Lal, the party’s prominent Dalit face, was made a cabinet minister.