Rajasthan Cabinet formation: Days after taking over the charge of the state, Congress veteran and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday undertoon the first exercise to expand his Cabinet. Gehlot inducted 23 ministers in the Council of Ministers includong one from Congress ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.
All the new ministers were administrated the oath of office by Governor Kalyan Singh at the Raj Bhavan in Jaipur. Of the 23, 13 are cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state. The ministers took oath in Hindi.
The cabinet ministers are BD Kalla, Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, Parsadi Lal Meena, Master Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Lal Chand Kataria, Raghu Sharma, Pramod Jain Bhaya, Vishvendra Singh, Harish Choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Udai Lal Anjna, Pratap Singh Khachariawas and Saleh Mohammad.
The ministers of state sworn in are Govind Singh Dotasara, Mamta Bhupesh, Arjun Singh Bamnia, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandna, Tika Ram Jully, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Rajendra Singh Yadav and RLD’s Subhash Garg.
READ MORE: Rajasthan Full List of Cabinet Ministers 2018
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Rajasthan Cabinet ministers: 23 Ministers take oath
The cabinet ministers are BD Kalla, Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, Parsadi Lal Meena, Master Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Lal Chand Kataria, Raghu Sharma, Pramod Jain Bhaya, Vishvendra Singh, Harish Choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Udai Lal Anjna, Pratap Singh Khachariawas and Saleh Mohammad.
The ministers of state sworn in are Govind Singh Dotasara, Mamta Bhupesh, Arjun Singh Bamnia, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandna, Tika Ram Jully, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Rajendra Singh Yadav and RLD's Subhash Garg.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot last week transferred 40 IAS officers and 8 Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officers. Also the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) will now have Ajitabh Sharma as secretary along with Arti Dogra and Rajan Vishal as joint secretaries to the CM. Among the RAS officers who were transferred soon after Gehlot took over are several names who were part of the CMO during Gehlot’s previous tenures as CM between 1998-2003 and 2008-2013.
The decision on Chief Minister and Deputy CMs post were taken after a fiery tussle between the supporters of both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. However, it is a question that's been around since 1952. When assembly elections were held in 1952, the party had won but seemed divided into two - one led by Jainarayan Vyas and the other by Tikaram Paliwal. Vyas lost the election by just two votes and Paliwal was made the CM. But within a year, Vyas won a by-poll from Kishangarh and made the Chief Minister. Paliwal was upset with the decision to remove him and had resigned from the Cabinet for a short period. But the high command then took a decision to pacify him and made him the Deputy CM.
Ashok Gehlot said that during the election campaign, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had promised a loan waiver to farmers within 10 days of forming the government. To fulfil this commitment, he said on Wednesday, the state government has decided to waive loans worth Rs 2 lakh in the cooperative banks. Blasting the BJP, Gehlot said that the previous BJP government did not help the farmers and waived loans up to Rs 50,000 only.
Sachin Pilot was elevated to the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president post in 2014. In the 2018 elections, Pilot contested from Tonk assembly seat, defeating BJP's Yunus Khan. He is serving as the fifth Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The others have been Tikaram Paliwal, Harishankar Bhabhra under Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (from 1993-98), Banwari Lal Bairwa and Kamla Beniwal during Gehlot's 1998-2003 tenure.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday fulfilled the pre-poll promise of waiving off farm loan. In a decision taken soon after he assumed the charge of CM's office, Gehlot announced a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh to farmers. As per the calculaion, there will be a burden of Rs 18,000 crore on the state exchequer.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday announced waiver of farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh. The decision was taken after CM chaired a meeting at the Secretariat in Jaipur with officials. The Congress had promised in its election manifesto to waive off farm loans within 10 days of coming to power. “The short-term loan of up to Rs 2 lakh from cooperative banks will be waived by the state government,” he said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Out of the 199 newly elected MLAs, 158 are crorepatis compared to 145 MLAs in the 2013 assembly elections. As per the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, a total of 82 out of 99 MLAs from the Congress, 58 of 73 MLAs from the BJP, 11 of 13 Independent MLAs and five of six BSP MLAs have declared their assets worth over Rs 1 crore. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot December 19 took charge of his office at the secretariat in Jaipur. Gehlot first offered his prayers at the temple situated inside the secretariat complex and then offered floral tributes to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Gehlot is a lawmaker from Sardarpura constituency.
As per the rule, Rajasthan can have a total of 30 ministers including the Chief Minister. On December 17, Gehlot and Sachin Pilot had taken oath as the CM and Deputy, respectively, meaning a total of 28 Ministers can be inducted into the Cabinet. The Cabinet, once constituted today, will have some vacancies left which will be filled later.
Those who are likely to take oath on Wednesday are BD Kalla, Raghu Sharma, Shanti Dhariwal, Lal Chand Kataria, Pramod Jain Bhaya, Parsadi Lal Meena, Vishvendra Singh, Harish choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Udai Lal Anjana, Saleh Mohammad and Govind Singh Dotasara, Mamta Bhupesh, Arjun Singh Bamaniya, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandna, Tikaram Jully, Bhajanlal Jatav, Rajendra Singh Yadav.
RLD's lone MLA Subhash Garg is also likely to take oath.
As many as 23 newly elected MLAs (22 Congress and one RLD) are expected to take oath as ministers. The Council of Ministers is likely to have 13 cabinet and 10 state ministers. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot had taken oath on December 17.
According to a PTI report, Congress observer for Rajasthan KC Venugopal, party general secretary in charge of Rajasthan Avinash Pandey, the list of Council of Ministers was finalised after deliberations in which key party leaders were involved. Citing sources, the PTI report said that Rahul Gandhi intends to focus on having a cabinet with a majority being fresh faces. The new cabinet is expected to be a blend of the old and new guard and will give an opportunity to those who have not held ministerial portfolios in the past.