Haryana cabinet expansion: Six ministers, four MoS take oath

CHANDIGARH: Haryana governor Satyadeo Narain Arya on Thursday administer oath to six cabinet ministers and four ministers of state, as Manohar Lal Khattar expanded his cabinet for first time.

With this, the size of Haryana council of ministers has gone up to 12. While finalizing the names, CM Khattar tried to strike balance among all castes and has given an adequate representation to all the areas.

Of the total 10 who took oath there was one independent and one MLA from JJP, rest eight were from BJP.

Prominent among those who took oath include Anil Vij, six-time MLA from Ambala cantt, former Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar, former minister and Bawal MLA Banwari Lal, independent MLA Ranjeet Singh Chutala, Mool Chand Sharma from Ballabhgarh and Jai Parkash Dalal from Loharu.

The MLAs who were sworn in as MoS included Om Parkash Yadav from Narnaul, Kamlesh Dhanda from Kalayat, former Indian Hockey captain Sandeep Singh from Pehowa and Anoop Dhanak from Uklana.

Now, Haryana cabinet has four jats, one Sikh, one brahmin, one Gujjar, two SCs, one Yadav, and two Punjabis. Anil Vij was the first to take oath at 12.56pm while Sandeep Singh was the last to take oath. Sandeep took oath in Punjabi.

Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and Union minister Krishan Pal Gujjar and Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia were the first to reach the venue. Following this, CM Manohar Lal Khattar and DyCM Dushyant Chautala reached venue. They were accompanied by Haryana BJP president Subhash Barala and Haryana BJP in-charge and BJP’s national general secretary Anil Jain. Besides MLAs and kins the newly appointed ministers, office bearers of BJP and senior bureaucrats attended the oath ceremony, which was held in the lawns of Haryana Raj Bhawan.

Interacting with section of media

Soon after the oath ceremony, the newly inducted ministers were provided the official cars as well as staff. The portfolios will be allocated on Thursday evening.