Chhattisgarh Cabinet Expansion: The much-awaited expansion of the Chhattisgarh cabinet since after the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won the assembly elections in the state took place on Friday with members taking the oath of office. Nine ministers are being inducted taking the strength of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai-led cabinet to 12. Brijmohan Agrawal, Ramvichar Netam, Dayaldas Baghel, Kedar Kashyap, Lakhanlal Dewangan, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, OP Choudhary, Tank Ram Verma and Laxmi Rajwade have taken oath as the minister of the Chhattisgarh cabinet.


The state can have a maximum of 13 ministers, including the CM. Earlier, the cabinet had three members – chief minister Sai and deputy CMs Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma. They were sworn in on December 13.




Sai on Thursday said one more cabinet berth will be filled later, reported PTI.


On the swearing-in ceremony of nine new Cabinet Ministers in Chhattisgarh, state BJP co-in-charge Nitin Nabin said, "Yesterday there was a session in which the entire team for formed. The BJP and PM Modi's team is ready to work on fulfilling the dream of Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee... The newly formed government will work on the promises made in the manifesto..."






 


OBCs, STs And 5 First-Time MLAs In Chhattisgarh Cabinet


The composition of the Chhattisgarh cabinet has MLAs from Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Tribes and many first-time MLAs. As per news agency PTI, there are six OBCs in the cabinet, namely Deputy CM Arun Sao, Lakhanlal Dewangan, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, OP Choudhary, Tank Ram Verma and Laxmi Rajwade.


CM Vishnu Deo Sai, Ramvichar Netam and Kedar Kashyap are from the Scheduled Tribes, whereas Dayaldas Baghel is from the Scheduled Caste category. Deputy CM Vijay Sharma and Brijmohan Agrawal are from the general category, while Rajwade is the only woman member in the cabinet.


Agrawal, Netam, Kashyap and Baghel have served as ministers in previous BJP governments in the state, while CM Sai has been a Union minister during the first term of the PM Narendra Modi government at the Centre.


Also, Sao, Sharma, IAS-turned-politician Choudhary, Verma and Rajwade are the first-time MLAs whereas Jaiswal and Dewangan have become MLAs for the second time.


The cabinet has four members from Surguja division, three from Bilaspur division, two each from Raipur and Durg divisions and one from Bastar division.


On taking oath as Chhattisgarh minister, BJP MLA Lakshmi Rajwade said, "BJP has given an opportunity to a small party worker like me. I am happy that I will represent not just the Bhatgaon constituency but the entire state... Women would be given priority and everything is possible under PM Modi's guarantee. While giving priority to women, I will work according to the directions of the party..."






Shyam Bihari Jaiswal also expressed gratitude towards the party and said, "I want to thank the party leadership that a son of a small farmer family like me is given the responsibility of a minister in the state. I thank the women, youth and farmers of the state for forming the BJP government... Our priority would be to double the income of the farmers..."






The BJP won 54 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while the Congress emerged victorious on 35 seats.


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