CM Sukhu expanded Himachal cabinet.
Shimla: The one-year-old cabinet led by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu in Himachal Pradesh was expanded on Tuesday. Rajesh Dharmani and Yadvendra Goma were included as cabinet ministers in this. Sukhu said efforts have been made to maintain caste and regional balance and Chandrashekhar, the lone Congress MLA from Mandi district, will soon be accommodated. The Chief Minister told reporters here that one ministerial post is still vacant in the cabinet and it will be filled soon. He also hinted at reshuffling the portfolios of ministers. The much-awaited expansion of the state cabinet was carried out a day after the Congress government completed one year on Monday. With this the number of members in the cabinet has now increased to 11.
Governor came to Shimla for oath
Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla administered the oath of office to the newly appointed ministers in the presence of Chief Minister Sukhu and other cabinet ministers during a ceremony at Raj Bhavan here. The Governor was in Delhi, but reached Shimla on Tuesday for the oath ceremony. Rajesh Dharmani (51) is a former Chief Parliamentary Secretary and three-time MLA from Ghumarwin. 37-year-old Yadavendar Goma is a two-time MLA from Jaisinghpur. Both the leaders have engineering and MBA degrees. Let us inform that after the swearing in of Chief Minister Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on December 11 last year, the cabinet was expanded on January 8 to include 7 cabinet ministers.
Bilaspur got cabinet representation
With the inclusion of Rajesh Dharmani, Bilaspur district has got representation in the government, while Kangra district has got another minister through Goma. Congress has 10 MLAs from Kangra district. There can be a total of 12 ministers in the Himachal cabinet and one post is still vacant. While the election of the Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly is pending. Chief Minister Sukhu had also appointed six chief parliamentary secretaries before the first extension in January. After the new expansion, the cabinet includes five ministers from the Rajput community including the Chief Minister, two from the Brahmin community including the Deputy Chief Minister, two from the Scheduled Castes and one each from Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Tribes.
Increased representation of Brahmins and Scheduled Castes
The inclusion of two new ministers in the cabinet has increased the representation of Brahmin and Scheduled Caste communities, although the Congress government seems to have failed to give adequate representation to different regions of the state. For example, the Congress has seven MLAs from Shimla district and three members in the cabinet while the party has 10 MLAs from Kangra district but only two cabinet ministers from there. If we look at Lok Sabha constituency wise, there are five cabinet ministers from Shimla parliamentary constituency, while there are three and two ministers from Hamirpur and Kangra constituencies respectively.
Congress had won 40 out of 68 seats.
Dharmani has previously held several positions including Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, Vice President of Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress, Secretary of All India Congress Committee and Secretary and Convenor of Technical Cell of NSUI. He is currently the nominated Chairman of the Human Development Committee and a member of the Public Accounts and e-Governance and General Purposes Committees. Goma was the general secretary of the state Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Organization from 2011-2014 and the president of Himachal Pradesh Congress Scheduled Caste Cell from 2019-2021. Congress had won 40 out of 68 seats in the 2022 assembly elections.
(input language)
Also read-
India Tv Poll: Will BJP get benefit in UP and Bihar by declaring Mohan Yadav as the new CM of MP?
‘Article 370 did not come because of Nehru’, know whom Farooq Abdullah held responsible
Latest India News