Rajasthan Cabinet expanded: 15 ministers sworn in

Twelve new faces were inducted, three elevated to Cabinet and another three dropped in Rajasthan on Sunday as the Congress sought to put the disarray in the state unit a thing of the past.

For the time being, the exercise brings a halt to the infighting in the Rajasthan unit where Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot were at loggerheads over the leadership question.

However, it is to be seen what role Pilot would have in the scheme of things and whether he would move to Delhi as Congress General Secretary. On his part, Pilot has said that he would take up any assignment given by the leadership but has not given up his claim for the Chief Ministership.

Also Read | Glad that concerns were addressed: Pilot on Cabinet reshuffle

The 15 ministers, including three Ministers who were elevated to the Cabinet, were sworn in by Governor Kalraj Mishra at a function in Raj Bhavan in Jaipur even as a couple of MLAs raised murmurs of protest against certain choices. Of the 12 new faces, five belong to Pilot camp and two of them make a return to Gehlot Cabinet after being sacked earlier.

The reshuffle comes after former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who was ousted by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in July last year after he shifted supporting MLAs out of Jaipur to topple the government, put relentless pressure on the party's central leadership, especially after the changes made in Punjab.

At the same time, Congress moved cautiously in Rajasthan and did not choose to sideline Gehlot like it dealt with Amarinder Singh in Punjab. Gehlot still continues to have a sway in the Rajasthan unit.

It is now to be seen whether Congress would go in for some sort of reshuffle in Chhattisgarh, as the party is battling another personality clash for power where incumbent Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has the backing of a large majority of MLAs and his bete noire Health Minister T S Singh Deo is insisting that the leadership honour its informal promise of rotating Chief Ministership after two-and-half years.

The contours of the reshuffle in Rajasthan was finalised following a series of separate meetings both Gehlot and Pilot had with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party General Secretaries Priyanka Gandhi, K C Venugopal and Ajay Maken.

The contribution to the governance of those who could not be inducted in the Cabinet is no less than those who have been made ministers, Gehlot said. Pilot said reshuffle was taken by the party after discussions and it sends a positive message across the state.

Of the 12 new ministers, five of them belonged to Pilot camp, including Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, who made a return to the Ministry after being sacked in July 2020 along with Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot after they attempted to unseat Gehlot.

Three ministers who were dropped are Govind Singh Dotasra, Harish Chaudhary and Raghu Sharma and this action was part of the party's decision to enforce 'one man, one post' policy. While Dotasra is state party chief, Chaudhary was recently appointed Congress in-charge in poll-bound Punjab after Harish Rawat was divested of charge to concentrate on Uttarakhand polls and Sharma was made Gujarat in-charge after the death of Rajiv Satav.

On Saturday, all the ministers had submitted resignations to Gehlot, who chose to forward only three to the Governor following discussions with the central leadership.

Congress has taken steps to keep regional and caste balance in the exercise with the three ministers -- Mamta Bhupesh, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Tikaram Jully -- who elevated belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities. Gehlot's new team now consists of four Dalits and three tribals while the number of women has risen to three -- one each Muslim, Dalit and Gujjar.

Eleven people -- Mamta, Jatav, Jully (all three promoted), Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena, Hemaram Choudhary, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, Ramlal Jat, Mahesh Joshi, Govindram Meghwal and Shakuntla Rawat -- were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. Four -- Zahida Khan, Brijendra Singh Ola, Rajendra Gudha and Murari Lal Meena --n were sworn in as Ministers of State.

Gudha is one of the six BSP MLAs who defected to Congress while none of the 12 independent MLAs supporting Congress found a place in the new team. Sources said MLAs who were expecting to be included but were not accommodated would be adjusted in political appointments.'

The plan is to have 15 parliamentary secretaries and seven advisers to the Chief Minister will be appointed. Congress has 108 MLAs in the 200-member assembly besides the support of 12 out of 13 independent MLAs.

While there were no large-scale protests against the exercise, Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena fired a salvo at the elevation of Jully claiming that everyone in Alwar knows that he is corrupt. "I asked the party leadership to remove him but instead, he has been made a minister. I am against it," Meena said while Jully rubbished saying that he respects his party colleague but he should come out with proof, if he has any, to back his allegations.

Another MLA Shafia Zubair said the reshuffle could have been better as those with a bad reputation have been promoted. "Overall, the Cabinet is not sending a good message. Women (MLAs) didn't get 33% reservation in the Cabinet," she said.

Gehlot and Pilot had held separate meetings with Sonia and other Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Maken in the national capital earlier this month to thrash out the contours of the reshuffle.

Pilot was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and his supporters ousted from ministership by Gehlot last year after the former shifted his MLAs to Delhi and other places, which was seen as an attempt to topple the Congress government with the help of BJP. However, Gehlot swiftly moved to contain the damages and the political drama ended within a month.

The internal tussle in BJP also helped Gehlot to handle the situation as some MLAs loyal to Pilot started having doubts about the success of their plans to unseat the veteran Congress leader.

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