Cabinet ministers assume office in Rajasthan

Jaipur: Some of the newly inducted ministers in Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP government's cabinet assumed office at the secretariat here on Monday.

The ministers are yet to be allotted portfolios.

The ministers who assumed office included Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Jogaram Patel, Avinash Gehlot, and Jawahar Singh Bedham. They assumed office after offering prayers to the god.

The Rajasthan cabinet currently has 25 ministers, including Chief Minister Sharma and two deputy chief ministers Diya Kumari and Premchand Bairwa. The council of ministers includes 12 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state (independent charge), and five MoS.

While Rathore, Patel, and Gehlot are cabinet ministers, Bedham is a minister of state in the state government.

"It is a big responsibility. We have to strengthen law and order in the state. The dream of a developed India would realise only when we have an effective delivery system," Rathore told reporters after assuming office.

He also said Rajasthan is under huge debt and blamed the previous Congress government for it, saying that it looted the state in the last five years.

Cabinet minister Gehlot said in the coming days, the government will review the state's situation when a cabinet meeting is held. "We will sit and discuss the way to take Rajasthan forward and implement the public welfare schemes on the ground."

He said that it is his priority to end the 'commission system' and establish good governance in the state.

Minister of state Bedham said that the government will work for the last man in queue and free the state from corruption and crime.

Meanwhile, cabinet minister Madan Dilawar said more women ministers will be inducted in the government to improve 'gender imbalance' in the cabinet.

"Five MLAs are reserved for the cabinet and they would be appointed at suitable time," Dilawar told reporters in Bundi.

He also claimed that the BJP would win all 25 parliamentary seats from Rajasthan in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

When asked about priorities of the BJP government, he said the chief minister has made it clear that his government would work to make the state corruption- and crime-free.

On a question, Dilawar said the cabinet would take note of illegal use of Waqf Board properties in the state and decide an action accordingly.

He termed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's proposed 'Bharat Nyay Yatra' as an 'anyay yatra' and alleged that the Congress has always done injustice to the people and now they want it to spread across the country through the yatra.