3 new Ministers take oath

 

 

To expand and balance the State’s Cabinet, Chhattisgarh Governor Ramen Deka on Wednesday administered the oath of office and secrecy to three first-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs: Gajendra Yadav, Guru Khushwant Saheb, and Rajesh Agrawal. The ceremony took place at the Chhattisgarh Mandap of Raj Bhavan in the State Capital. The induction of these three ministers brings the total strength of the Vishnu Deo Sai-led Government’s Cabinet to 14, including the Chief Minister. This is the first Cabinet expansion since the BJP Government took office nearly a year and eight months ago.

 

The move marks a departure from the State’s tradition of having a 13-member Cabinet. The decision to expand the Cabinet to 14 members has been compared to the ‘Haryana model’, where 14 ministers serve in a 90-member assembly. According to a BJP leader, this increase is based on a constitutional provision that allows the Council of Ministers to be up to 15% of the total strength of the Assembly. For Chhattisgarh’s 90-member assembly, this figure is 13.5, which has been rounded up to 14. The newly-inducted ministers represent a strategic attempt to balance regional and caste equations in the government. Rajesh Agrawal, a former Congress leader from the Agrawal community, won his seat in Ambikapur after defeating veteran Congress leader T S Singhdeo.

 

Guru Khushwant Saheb, representing the Scheduled Caste community, secured a victory against Congress veteran Dr Shiv Kumar Dahariya in Arang. Gajendra Yadav, from the Yadav (OBC) community, triumphed over Congress leader Arun Vora in Durg Urban. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by prominent dignitaries, including Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Speaker of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Dr Raman Singh, Deputy Chief Ministers Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma, Cabinet ministers, MLAs, and senior officials.