Haryana CM Saini carries out first cabinet expansion, inducts eight ministers
CHANDIGARH: The Nayab Singh Saini government in Haryana carried out the first cabinet expansion on Tuesday by inducting eight MLAs as ministers. Saini and five ministers took oath last week.
Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at the Raj Bhavan here.
BJP MLA from Hisar Kamal Gupta was the first one to be administered an oath as a cabinet minister. Gupta took the oath in Sanskrit. He was a minister in the previous MK Khattar cabinet.
Thereafter, Badkhal MLA Seema Trikha, Panipat Rural MLA Mahipal Dhanda, Ambala City MLA Aseem Goel, Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav, Thanesar MLA Subhash Sudha, Bawani Khera MLA Bishamber Singh Balmiki, and Sohna MLA Sanjay Singh were sworn in as ministers of state (independent charge).
Former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Saini took oath on Wednesday as the Haryana CM at a swearing-in ceremony in Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh.
After the collapse of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) alliance and the subsequent resignation of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former CM Khattar said that the demand of the JJP leaders over the Lok Sabha polls seat allocation may have led to the split of the alliance.
An influential figure within the OBC, or Other Backward Classes, community, Nayab Saini is the BJP's Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra and was appointed the party's state boss in October last year. He is also a close confidante of outgoing CM ML Khattar.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
