Jaipur: The cabinet of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan finally came into existence after 25 days on Saturday. Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oath to 22 ministers in the team of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma. Of these, 12 are cabinet ministers, 5 are state ministers with independent charge and five are state ministers level.
Two Deputy Chief Ministers have already been sworn in. In Rajasthan, a total of 30 ministers can be made including the Chief Minister and now 25 posts have been filled in the council of ministers.
List of MLAs inducted into Rajasthan cabinet
The MLAs inducted into the Rajasthan cabinet are Kirodilal Meena, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Madan Dilawar, Rathore, Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Babulal Kharadi, Jogaram Patel, Suresh Singh Rawat, Avinash Gehlot, Joraram Kumawat, Hemant Meena, Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary and Sumit Godara.
Sanjay Sharma, Gautam Kumar Dak, Jhabar Singh Kharra, Surendra Pal Singh and Heeralal Nagar took oath as ministers of state (independent charge).
Otaram Dewasi, Manju Baghmar, Vijay Singh Choudhary, K K Vishnoi and Jawahar Singh Bedham were made ministers of state.
With a first-time MLA as the CM, the BJP has come up with an almost fresh council of ministers in the state. 16 out of 22 MLAs who we sworn in today are first-time ministers. Both deputy CMs will also hold ministry for the first time.
The party took 25 days to finalize the names of the chief minister and council of ministers. After BJP's victory in Rajasthan, Bhajanlal Sharma took oath as Chief Minister on 15 December with two deputies Diya Kumari and Premchand Bairwa. Since then the state has been waiting for the council of ministers as the party was finding it difficult to make regional and caste balance. Besides this balancing new and experienced MLAs in the cabinet was also a challenge as the CM Bhajanlal is himself a first-timer.
Though the selection of ministers is provocative of the chief minister in Rajasthan it was the party high command and some leaders from the state except Vasundhara Raje, who chose the names. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma visited Delhi twice regarding cabinet expansion and on Friday night also he moved to Delhi to finalize the names.
The selection of ministers suggests that the party tried to make a reasonable regional and caste balance keeping in mind the coming Loksabha elections. The OBCs have been given eight seats in the council of ministers with three each from ST and SC communities.
For regional balance, 17 out of 33 districts have representation in the cabinet with four from Jaipur including the CM and two deputy CMs and two each from Kota, Nagour, Pali and Jodhpur, the districts from where the party had good support in the elections.
Three MPs are now ministers
Four MPs out of seven fielded in the assembly election won their seats and three have now become ministers including Kirodilal Meena, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Diya Kumari.
The candidate becomes minister first, BJP has made the party's candidate from the Srikaranpur seat, Surendra Pal Singh TT, a minister The election for the Srikaranpur seat was postponed due to the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Kunnar during the election and now the election is to be held there on January 5. Surendra Pal Singh TT is the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the seat and today the party has made him a minister even before becoming an MLA. Congress has objected to this terming it a violation of the election code of conduct. Congress president Govind Singh Dotasara posted on social media that it shows the arrogance of the Bharatiya Janata Party that it has defied even the Election Commission and made the candidate a minister even before becoming an MLA.
