E-Paper
Five Punjab MLAs take oath as ministers in Bhagwant Mann's expanded cabinet
With the appointment of the five ministers, the cabinet of chief minister Bhagwant Mann now has 15 members.
As many as five legislators were sworn-in as ministers in Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann's cabinet on Monday.
This is the first cabinet expansion of the Mann-led government after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in the border state during the Assembly elections earlier this year.
Sunam MLA Aman Arora, Amritsar South's Inderbir Singh Nijjar, Guru Harsahai's Fauja Singh Sarari, Samana's Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Kharar MLA Anmol Gagan Maan were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit at Guru Nanak Dev Auditorium of Punjab Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh. Mann attended the event.
Punjab can have 18 ministers, including the chief minister, as per the constitutional cap of 15 per cent of the number of members of the Assembly. With the appointment of the five ministers, the state cabinet now has 15 members.
Barring Arora, a two-time MLA from Sunam, the four others are first-time legislators. All of them took oath in Punjabi.
Of the five new faces, four MLAs are from the Malwa region and one is from the Majha region.
Last week, Mann visited Delhi to meet the party high command Arvind Kejriwal. Sources said during this meeting, there was a discussion about the cabinet expansion of Punjab and the names of the possible ministers were also mentioned.
