Himachal Pradesh cabinet to be expanded today, 7-8 ministers may take oath | Shimla News – Times of India

1
54
Advertisements


SHIMLA: The long-awaited expansion of the Himachal Pradesh cabinet will take place in Shimla on Sunday, with chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu returning from Delhi on Saturday evening. According to sources, 7-8 ministers are likely to be sworn in and the rest of the berths would be filled later.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan in Shimla at 10 am on Sunday. Governor Rajender Vishwannath Arlekar is set to leave for Goa after the swearing-in ceremony. The chief minister submitted the list of the ministers to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary K C Venugopal.
Most of the third-term MLAs are likely to be inducted in the cabinet, and the only exception would be the Shimla (Rural) MLA Vikramaditya Singh, who is a second-timer.
The issue of cabinet expansion has left the Congress divided in Himachal Pradesh, with a letter purportedly written by a senior leader to the AICC president surfacing, wherein it has been alleged that as far as the process of constitution of the ministry goes, the names that are being discussed do not represent the entire Congress party that fought tooth and nail against the BJP government.
According to sources, during his Delhi visit, Sukhu was advised by the central leadership to give more representation to Scheduled Caste MLAs in the Cabinet. In Himachal Pradesh, of the 68 assembly constituencies, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Castes. Compared to four seats won by Congress in the 2017 assembly election, this time the party has won 10 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes.
A senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity, said that while expanding the Cabinet, the party will have to give due representation to all four parliamentary constituencies of Shimla, Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra, besides working on caste and regional balance.
Most likely in the first phase, Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur under Mandi parliamentary constituency, Dhani Ram Shandil, Rohit Thakur and Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla parliamentary constituency and Chander Kumar from Kangra parliamentary constituency would take the oath.
Sources have claimed that no first-timer MLAs would be inducted though MLAs like R S Bali from Kangra and Kuldeep Rathore from Shimla were lobbying for their induction. Even second-timer MLAs like Sunder Singh Thakur from Kullu, Ashish Butail from Palampur, and Bhawani Pathania from Fatehpur would not be able to make it, sources added. In Shimla, of the 6 MLAs of Congress, 5 are vying for cabinet berths and of them, only Vikramaditya Singh and Rohit Thakur are likely to be inducted, while despite the willingness of Sukhu, the position of Kasumpti MLA Anirudh Singh, a third timer, is doubtful.
Suspense also continues over the induction of senior leaders like Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala, who is a former minister, and Rajender Rana, who had defeated former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2017.





Source link

Comments are closed.