JAIPUR: A total of thirteen Cabinet ministers and ten Ministers of State took the oath on Monday in a culmination of several weeks of speculation around the ministerial faces in Rajasthan’s government.
State governor Kalyan Singh administered the oath in the presence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot in Jaipur. Although the ceremony may have been simple, the run up to the event could hardly be termed easy.
Caste permutations and the underlying tussle between Pilot and Gehlot forced Congress president Rahul Gandhi to step in for finalising the ministerial names, which he did after meeting with Pilot and Gehlot in Delhi on Sunday. With an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party has maintained a balance of experience and youth. Caste and region of the leaders was another major factor that came into play and Gehlot’s loyalists seem to be in a slight majority.
A total of 18 legislators are first-time ministers. Congress ally National Lok Dal legislator Subhash Garg has also been included in the Cabinet. Lalchand Kataria, Raghu Sharma and Harish Chaudhary are former ministers in the Rajasthan Cabinet.
Gandhi has advocated giving preference to women several times. Several women have also written to Congress-ruled states to implement reservation and some states have gone to the extent of passing a Bill for reserving ministerial berths for women. However, despite all this, only one woman found a berth in the desert state’s leadership despite the party having 11 women MLAs.
The party has also covered the regions in which it fared well. There are three ministers from Jaipur and Bharatpur. Dausa-Bikaner has two Ministers each. Alwar, Churu, Chittor, Jalore, Bundi, Ajmer, Kota, Barmer, Karauli, Jaisalmer, Sikar, Banswara and Baran have one minister each in leadership. Of the 25 parliamentary constituencies in the state, the party has chosen ministers from 18 constituencies. Ramesh Meena, Govind Dotasara, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Bishnoi, Ashok Chandna and Rajendra Yadav, who won the last time despite the ‘Modi wave’, have been rewarded with a seat in the Cabinet.
Needless to say, caste equations with respect to the 2019 polls also figured in the party’s choices. Jats and Scheduled Castes communities have four representatives each in the Cabinet. While Scheduled Tribes get three representatives. The Vaishya community, the Rajputs and Brahmins have two Ministers each and the Gujjars and Muslims got one each. Party functionaries privy to strategy discussions said some senior leaders who were left out may be elected for constitutional posts such as the Assembly Speaker.