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BJP’s Gupta and JJP’s Babli sworn-in as Haryana ministers
Two Haryana MLAs – BJP’s Kamal Gupta and JJP’s Devender Singh Babli – were sworn in as cabinet ministers by governor Bandaru Dattatraya at Raj Bhawan on Tuesday.
Two Haryana MLAs – BJP’s Kamal Gupta and JJP’s Devender Singh Babli – were sworn in as cabinet ministers by governor Bandaru Dattatraya at Raj Bhawan on Tuesday.
The state government now has 14 members in the council of ministers. The newly-inducted ministers are likely to be allocated portfolios by Wednesday. Their induction will also necessitate shuffling of portfolios. Deputy chief minister Dushyant Singh Chautala, who holds at least seven top-of-the-line portfolios, will certainly have to shed a couple for his party colleague Devender Babli.
BJP’s Kamal Gupta, a medic who was chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) health and medical education in the previous BJP government will be a contender for the health portfolio held by state home minister Anil Vij.
Gupta took the oath of office and secrecy in Sanskrit while Babli read it out in Hindi.
Constitution allows only 13 ministers in Haryana
As per Article 164 (1A) of the Constitution, there can be a maximum of 13 ministers including the chief minister in the Haryana council of ministers.
The constitutional provision says the total number of ministers, including the chief minister, in the council of ministers in a state shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the legislative assembly. This implies that Haryana, which has a 90 member House, cannot have more than 13 ministers including the chief minister.
However, successive governments have been flouting the constitutional cap by rounding off the 13.5 figure and inducting 14 ministers, including the chief minister.
Following Tuesday’s inductions, the BJP now has 10 ministers including chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, while its post-poll ally JJP has three ministers including deputy chief minister Dushyant Singh Chautala. Rania MLA Ranjit Singh is the lone independent MLA inducted as a minister.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won only 40 of the 90 seats, thus falling short of a simple majority. Subsequently, it formed the government with the support of 10 JJP MLAs and independents.
Caste equation and political compulsions
The BJP has inducted Hisar MLA Kamal Gupta in the cabinet to give representation to the Vaish community and Hisar district. The cabinet did not have a single minister from the Vaish community and Hisar before Gupta’s induction.
The JJP, on the other hand, has tried to contain the dissent among its MLAs by inducting Babli, a prominent dissenting voice along with Narnaund MLA Ram Kumar Gautam. The induction of Babli, a Jat, also holds political significance for the JJP since the party wants to strengthen its support base in Fatehabad, a district bordering Dushyant’s home district Sirsa.
His induction in the cabinet will also mean a downer for state BJP’s former president Subhash Barala, whom Babli defeated by over 50,000 votes from Tohana assembly constituency in 2019 polls.
