After eighteen days of dilly-dallying, Manohar Lal Khattar-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) coalition Government in Haryana on Thursday constituted its cabinet with the induction of 10 Ministers comprising eight from BJP, one from JJP, lone woman and an Independent being sworn-in here at Raj Bhawan.
Governor SN Arya administered the oath of office and secrecy at 12.50 pm to the new ministers, including six legislators as Cabinet Ministers and four as Ministers of State (MoS) at a simple but impressive swearing-in ceremony organised at Raj Bhawan that lasted less than half an hour. The State chief secretary Keshni Anand Arora conducted the proceedings of oath taking ceremony.
Barring former hockey player-turned-BJP MLA Sandeep Singh, all the Ministers took oath in Hindi. Singh donning a saffron turban took oath in Punjabi.
Those who were inducted in the 18-day-old Manohar Lal Cabinet as Cabinet Minister are MLA from Ambala cantonment Anil Vij, former speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar from Jagadhri seat, Mool Chand Sharma from Ballabgarh seat, Independent and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala's brother Ranjeet Singh from Rania seat; Jai Parkash Dalal from Loharu and former Minister of State Dr Banwari Lal from Bawal seat.
Among those who were inducted as ministers of state are BJP's Om Prakash Yadav from Narnaul, Kamlesh Dhanda from Kalayat seat, Anoop Dhanak from Uklana seat and Sandeep Singh from Pehowa seat. Kamlesh Dhanda, the BJP MLA from Kalayat assembly seat, was the lone woman Minister who took oath.
The Government now has eight BJP Ministers besides Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar who is at the helm for his second consecutive term. The Cabinet can have 14 members, including the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, with two slots kept for the future expansion.
SENIOR BJP LEADER VIJ FIRST TO TAKE OATH
Senior BJP leader and six-time MLA from Ambala Cantonment, Anil K Vij, took oath first as a Cabinet Minister. He was followed by another senior BJP leader and third-time MLA Kanwar Pal Gujjar, who was also sworn in as Cabinet Minister.
Others who took oath as State Cabinet Ministers include BJP's Vallabhgarh MLA Moolchand Sharma, Independent MLA Ranjit Singh Chautala, younger brother of OP Chautala and former MOS and senior BJP leader Banwari Lal.
BJP MLAs Om Prakash Yadav, Kamlesh Dhandha, Sandeep Singh and JJP MLA Anup Dhanak took oath as Minister of State.
The saffron party’s post-poll partner and alliance partner JJP, a defector of the State's once prominent regional outfit Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), got lone Minister Anoop Dhanak along with Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala in the Government.
Prominent among those were present on the occasion included Union Minister Narender Singh Tomar, MPs Dharambir Singh, Ramesh Kaushik, Sanjay Bhatia, Sunita Duggal, Rajya Sabha MPs Lt. Gen DP Vats (Retd), Krishanpal Gujjar, State BJP chief Subash Barala, State BJP incharge Anil Jain, speaker Gian Chand Gupta, JJP State chief Nishan Singh, former Ministers Ram Bilash Sharma, Capt Abhimanyu and Manish Grover.
While Khattar and Anil Vij are from the Punjabi community, Dushyant Chautala, his grand uncle Ranjit Singh Chautala, JP Dalal and Kamlesh Dhanda are Jats. Banwari Lal is the BJP's Dalit face. Anil Vij and Banwari Lal are the only two members from previous Khattar-led Ministry who won the assembly polls again. Eight Ministers, including veterans Ram Bilas Sharma, OP Dhankar and Capt Abhimanyu, lost the polls.
