New Delhi: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar enlarged his cabinet on Tuesday, appointing an MLA from both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
The BJP's Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta and JJP MLA Devender Singh Babli, who represents Tohana in the Assembly, were inducted into Khattar's cabinet in the second enlargement carried out in two years, PTI reported.
Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath at a ceremony of two new cabinet ministers held at the Haryana Raj Bhavan.
Gupta took the oath in Sanskrit, whilst Babli took the oath in Hindi.
Among those present at the oath ceremony were Khattar and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala.
With the addition of the two MLAs, the Haryana council of ministers now has a total of 14 members, including the chief minister.
Previously, 10 MLAs were sworn in as cabinet ministers in November 2019, just days after the chief minister and his deputy were sworn in on October 27, 2019.
The BJP now has ten ministers, including the chief minister, while the JJP has three, including the deputy chief minister, with Ranjit Singh Chautala the lone Independent MLA admitted as a minister.
The BJP fell short of a simple majority in the Haryana Assembly elections in October 2019, garnering 40 of the 90 seats, and as a result, it formed an alliance with the JJP, which has 10 MLAs.
(With PTI inputs)