New Delhi: Rajasthan on Sunday witnessed the long-due cabinet reshuffle with 15 Congress leaders being sworn in at the Raj Bhawan in Jaipur.
Speaking about the overhaul, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said: “The contribution to the governance of those who could not be inducted in the Cabinet is no less than those who have been made ministers today”, news agency ANI reported.
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Earlier in the day, Rajasthan Congress leaders, including the MLAs going to take oath as ministers, assembled at the party’s state office for a meeting.
From the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee office, they head to the Raj Bhawan for the oath-taking ceremony taking place at 4 pm as per schedule.
Fifteen ministers - 11 cabinet and four ministers of state (MoS) - have taken the oath to be part of the refurbished Rajasthan cabinet.
Three ministers of state, who belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, have been elevated to the cabinet rank. The new state cabinet for the first time has four SC members, a step taken by Congress after giving Punjab its first Dalit Chief Minister.
The three SC ministers who have been elevated to the cabinet rank are Bhajanlal Jatav, Mamta Bhupesh Bhairwa, and Tikaram Juli. Another SC member, former MP Govind Ram Meghwal, is a fresh face to be included in the refurbished cabinet.
The cabinet also features three women -- a Muslim, one from the SC community, and a Gujjar.
The new ministers who have taken oath as cabinet ministers are Hemaram Chaudhary, Mahendrajit Singh Malviya, Ramlal Jat, Mahesh Joshi, Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena, Mamta Bhupesh Bhairwa, Bhajanlal Jatav, Tikaram Juli, Govind Ram Meghwal, and Shakuntala Rawat.
Those who have been sworn in as the new ministers of state today are Zahida, Brijendra Singh Ola, Rajendra Guda, and Muralilal Meena.
Among those from the Sachin Pilot camp who have been included in the ministry are Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena, and Hemaram Chaudhary as cabinet ministers, besides Brijendra Ola and Murari Meena as ministers of state.
With the induction of 12 new ministers, the number of council of ministers in the state will reach 30 which is the maximum limit for cabinet, including the chief minister.
Notably, Pilot loyalists Ramesh Meena and Vishvendra Singh, who are being included in the Rajasthan cabinet, were sacked as cabinet ministers for raising a banner of revolt against the leadership of CM Ashok Gehlot last year.
Ramesh Meena had served as the Food and Civil Supply Minister, Vishvendra Singh was Tourism Minister.
Both Congress leaders are from eastern Rajasthan and were sacked along with the then deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot in July last year.
“We had met the party high command and had raised certain points which were about increasing representation from eastern Rajasthan and promoting ST leaders. I am happy that the issues have been addressed and we will be working hard to ensure the party's victory in the 2023 assembly elections,” Ramesh Meena said earlier, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, only three ministers -- Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary, and Raghu Sharma who resigned on Friday -- have been dropped while other ministers have been retained in the Ashok Gehlot cabinet.
After the ceremony at Raj Bhawan, the Rajasthan Chief Minister emphasised the attempt to give representation to different communities. “We have tried to give representation to all communities -- SC, ST, OBC and minorities in the new cabinet. We will try to adjust the maximum number of MLAs in different boards and corporations or make them parliament secretaries,” CM Ashok Gehlot said, as quoted by ANI.
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Rajasthan Cabinet’s Resignation & Clamour For Reshuffle
On Saturday evening, ministers in Congress-ruled Rajasthan had resigned during a meeting at CM Ashok Gehlot’s residence ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle.
Ajay Maken had arrived in Jaipur on Friday night and informed reporters about the resignation of the three ministers who, in their letter to Sonia Gandhi, expressed a desire to work for the party organisation.
While Govind Dotasra is the PCC chief, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma are in charge of the party’s affairs in Punjab and Gujarat respectively.
The cabinet reshuffle comes as, for several months, the clamour for an overhaul had been growing with former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s camp demanding that his loyalists be accommodated in the state cabinet.
Sachin Pilot had met Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in September to discuss his future as well the accommodation of some of his loyalists in the state cabinet.
Last year, Congress had managed to save its state government in Rajasthan after Sachin Pilot rebelled against CM Ashok Gehlot over long-standing differences.
In the political crisis, Sachin was removed as the deputy chief minister and replaced as state Congress president by Govind Singh Dotasra.
(With Agency Inputs)