New Delhi: After the Rajasthan Cabinet-expansion with the swearing-in of 15 ministers, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot allocated portfolios to the ministers of the rejigged Cabinet on Monday.
The Chief Minister has kept Home, Finance, and IT & Communication ministry with himself, according to a government statement.
In the reshuffled cabinet, BD Kalla got education, Parsadi Lal Meena health; Pramod Jain Bhaya retained mines and petroleum, Lalchand Kataria agriculture, Udailal Anjana cooperative; Shanti Dhariwal retained parliamentary affairs and Saleh Mohammad minority affairs.
Sacked from the Cabinet last year, Vishvendra Singh got tourism portfolio back; Ramesh Meena got Panchayati Raj.
Brijendra Ola got road transport, Bhajan Lal Jatav PWD and Shakuntala Rawat got industries in the new Cabinet.
With the expansion, the strength of the Council of Ministers has reached the maximum permissible limit of 30. Eleven of the legislators who took oath were inducted as Cabinet Ministers while four as Ministers of State.
The council of ministers in the Rajasthan government now has 19 cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state, apart from the chief minister.
Out of the 11 newly inducted cabinet ministers, Mamta Bhupesh, Bhajan Lal Jatav and Tikaram Jully have been elevated from minister of state (MoS) to cabinet rank, while Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, who were sacked last year for rebelling have been reinducted as cabinet ministers.
Addressing mediapersons after the oath taking ceremony, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that representation has been given to all, including scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, backward classes and minorities.
Meanwhile, six MLAs, including three independents, were appointed advisers to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot after the cabinet expansion. The Congress MLAs who were appointed advisers are Jitendra Singh, Rajkumar Sharma and Danish Abrar.