Rajasthan Cabinet Reshuffle: 12 New Faces Among 15 To Take Oath Today, 5 From Sachin Pilot's Camp
The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government will have a total of 30 ministers. The swearing-in ceremony has been slated at 4 pm today.
New Delhi: After all the Rajasthan state cabinet ministers submitted their resignation to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday evening, the major reshuffling today will see 12 new faces, including five from the Sachin Pilot camp, according to PTI.
The swearing-in ceremony has been slated for today at 4 pm and 15 ministers will take oath to form the new Rajasthan cabinet.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the resignation of three cabinet ministers -- Raghu Sharma, Harish Chaudhary, and Govind Singh Dotasra -- after all the 21 members of the Rajasthan cabinet resigned
The resignation of Sharma, Chaudhary and Dotasra was accepted as they hold party positions, and the "one man, one post" formula has been applied in the state.
Sharma has been appointed as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Gujarat, Chaudhary as the AICC in-charge for Punjab and Dotasra is the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief.
According to PTI inputs, three ministers of state, all of whom are from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, have been elevated to the cabinet rank to strike a balance.
The new state cabinet will for the first time have four SC members, a step taken by the Congress after elevating a Dalit as the chief minister of Punjab.
Keeping in mind the upcoming polls, the cabinet will also feature three women -- a Muslim, one from the SC community, and a Gujjar.
Among the new ministers to take 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 will take oath as the new ministers of state today. are Zahida, Brijendra Singh Ola, Rajendra Durha 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.
Two of them -- Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena -- were sacked as cabinet ministers during a political crisis in the state last year.
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.
Rajinder Guda, a former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA who later joined the Congress, has also been included as a minister.
ANI shared a list of the 15 ministers -- 11 cabinet ministers and four ministers of state -- to be sworn in today.
Some former BSP legislators would also be included as parliamentary secretaries, said PTI sources, adding that some senior MLAs would be made advisers to the chief minister.
After the recent bypolls, in which it snatched a seat from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling Congress has 102 MLAs in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.
The Rajasthan can have a maximum of 30 ministers, including the chief minister.
For several months, the clamour for a reshuffle 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 also 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.
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