Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Friday expanded his state cabinet with the induction of nine new ministers. Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs Brijmohan Agrawal, Ramvichar Netam, Dayaldas Baghel, Kedar Kashyap, Lakhanlal Dewangan, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, OP Choudhary, Tank Ram Verma and Laxmi Rajwade were administered oath by Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan.
This takes the strength of the Sai-led cabinet to 12. Before this, the cabinet had three members – chief minister Sai and deputy CMs Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma. They were sworn in on December 13.
Chhattisgarh can have a maximum of 13 ministers, including the CM.
“Very soon portfolios will be allotted. One more cabinet berth will be filled later,” Sai told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}“Very soon portfolios will be allotted. One more cabinet berth will be filled later,” Sai told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}Sai, Ramvichar Netam and Kedar Kashyap belong to the Scheduled Tribes, Dayaldas Baghel to the Scheduled Caste category, while Vijay Sharma and Brijmohan Agrawal are from the general category. Rajwade is the only woman member in the cabinet.
Agrawal, Netam, Kashyap and Baghel have served as ministers in previous BJP governments in the state, while CM Sai has been a Union minister during the first term of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Last week, Sai chaired his first cabinet meeting in which he said that the first task will be to provide 1.8 million houses to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. He also said that the pending bonus of 2017-2018 on paddy procurement will also be given to the farmers on December 25.
“As mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even myself during the election campaigning, the first task of our government will be to provide 18 lakh houses to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana,” Sai said.
The Congress suffered a shock defeat in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) making a stunning comeback to power by bagging 54 of the 90 seats, after a gap of five years.
Congress, which won 68 seats in 2018 in the state, was reduced to 35 seats while the GGP managed to win one seat.