The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana on Thursday inducted 10 ministers, PTI reported. Of these, eight were from the Bharatiya Janata Party, one from the Jannayak Janta Party and one MLA was an Independent.
The Haryana Assembly elections were held on October 21 for the 90-member Assembly, and the results were declared on October 24. The BJP won 40 seats, the Congress 31 seats and the Jannayak Janta Party 10 seats, while Independents won the rest. The BJP formed a government with the help of the Jannayak Janta Party and some Independents.
Khattar had taken oath as chief minister on October 27. Jannayak Janta Party chief Dushyant Chautala was sworn in as the deputy chief minister the same day. However, the other members of the Haryana Cabinet had not been sworn in at the time.
The maximum number of ministers in Haryana can be 13, considering that they cannot exceed 15% of the strength of the House. With the induction of 10 ministers, plus Khattar and Chautala, there are now 12 occupied posts in the Haryana Cabinet.
All ministers took oath in Hindi, except hockey player-turned BJP MLA Sandeep Singh, who opted Punjabi, PTI reported. Kamlesh Dhanda, the BJP MLA from Kalayat Assembly seat, was the only woman minister.
The Cabinet ministers from the BJP are: Six-time MLA Anil Vij, former Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Mool Chand Sharma, Jai Parkash Dalal and Banwari Lal. Former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s estranged brother Ranjit Singh, who won as an Independent, is the sixth Cabinet-rank minister. The new ministers of state are Om Prakash Yadav, Kamlesh Dhanda, Sandeep Singh and Anoop Dhanak. Dhanak is the lone minister from the Jannayak Janta Party.
Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya administered the oath to new ministers at a ceremony on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, state BJP chief Subhash Barala, BJP’s Haryana unit in-charge Anil Jain, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, and Jannayak Janta Party Haryana chief Nishan Singh also attended the ceremony.
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