Uttarakhand CM Dhami Expands Cabinet, 5 Ministers Take Oath In Dehradun

The expansion comes amid five vacant positions in the council of ministers in Uttarakhand. The number of ministers declined over time due to a death and a resignation.

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami's cabinet expansion will be held today.

Source : ANI

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's cabinet was expanded on Friday, with five lBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs inducted as ministers during a ceremony held in Dehradun.

The swearing-in took place at Lok Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Governor Gurmeet Singh, who administered the oath of office to the newly inducted ministers.

Those sworn in include BJP MLAs Khajan Das (Dehradun), Madan Kaushik (Haridwar), Pradeep Batra (Roorkee), Bharat Chaudhary (Rudraprayag), and Ram Singh Kaida (Nainital).

On taking oath as a minister in the Uttarakhand government, BJP MLA Khajan Dass said: "I thank the BJP's central leadership and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for expressing their trust in me."

Vacancies In Cabinet

The expansion comes amid five vacant positions in the council of ministers. When the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power for a second consecutive term in 2022, nine ministers, including the chief minister, were sworn in. 

The number of ministers declined over time due to a death and a resignation.

Following the demise of Social Welfare and Transport Minister Chandan Ram Das in April 2023, the cabinet strength reduced to eight. It further dropped to seven after Parliamentary Affairs and Finance Minister Prem Chand Agarwal stepped down last year amid a controversy.

As per constitutional provisions, the Uttarakhand cabinet can have a maximum strength of 12 members.

In recent years, discussions around a cabinet expansion had surfaced multiple times in the state, but no concrete action followed. Earlier, Chief Minister Dhami and Uttarakhand BJP president Mahendra Bhatt had indicated that a cabinet reshuffle was on the cards.