Jaipur, December 24: Twenty-three legislators of Rajasthan were on Monday sworn in as ministers–13 as Cabinet ministers and 10 as Ministers of State at the Raj Bhawan here.
Governor Kalyan Singh administered the oath of office to the newly inducted ministers at a special swearing-in ceremony.
Of this, seven cabinet and 10 MoS are first-time ministers in the Gehlot government.
While BD Kalla, Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, Parsadi Lal Meena, Master Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Lal Chand Kataria and Pramod Jain Bhaya (all cabinet) are old Congress veterans in the government.
The cabinet includes Bharatpur’s ex-royal MLA Vishwendra Singh, sole minority minister Saleh Mohmmad from Pokhran, woman MLA Mamta Bhupesh, and Congress’s alliance partner of RLD Subhash Garg, former vice president BS Shekhawat’s nephew Pratap Singh Khachariawas, former Congress whip Govind Singh Dotasarand, and Congress MP who got elected from Kekari assembly seat Raghu Sharma.
Among others who got approval of Congress president Rahul Gandhi are Harish Choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Udailal Aanjana, Arjun Bamania, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandana, Tikaram Juli, Bhajan Lal Yadav and Rajendra Yadav.
Many senior MLAs like CP Joshi, Hema Ram Choudhary, Bharat Singh, Dipendra Singh Shekhawat, Parasram Mordia, Rajendra Pareek, Mahesh Joshi, Jitendra Singh, Brijendra Singh Ola, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, and Rajkumar Sharma could not be adjusted in the cabinet.
A few of them might be given berths as Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Chief Whip, a party source said.
With Sachin Pilot as Deputy Chief Minister, the Chief Minister has maintained a caste equation by taking four ministers from Jat MLAs, four from SCs, three each from STs and Vaishyas, two each of Brahmins, Rajputs and OBCs, and one each from Gujrars, Vishnois and Muslims.
Gehlot and Pilot were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM on December 17, after the Assembly results were announced on December 11.
