Before cabinet expansion, Sukhu also administered oaths to six chief parliamentary secretaries.
Himachal cabinet expansion: 7 new ministers take oath
Seven ministers administered oath include Dhani Ram Shandil from Solan district, Chander Kumar from Kangra district, Harshwardhan Chauhan from Sirmaur district, Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur district beside Rohit Thakur, Anirudh Singh and Vikramaditya Singh from Shimla district.
While trying to ensure regional balance, Sukhu has also tried to balance caste equations in cabinet expansion. Shandil belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, Chander Kumar is OBC, Jagat Singh Negi is Scheduled Tribe while Harshwardhan Chauhan, Rohit Anirudh and Vikaramaditya Singh are Rajputs.
In a bid to please the MLAs who were not considered for the cabinet posts, Sukhu appointed them as chief parliamentary secretaries. The six MLAs appointed as chief parliamentary secretaries include Sunder Singh Thakur from Kullu district, Mohan Lal Brakta from Shimla district, Ram Kumar Chaudhary from Solan district, Ashish Butail and Kishori Lal from Kangra district and Sanjay Awasthi from Solan district.
On December 8 last year, Congress had come to power in Himachal Pradesh by winning 40 seats out of total 68 and three days later on December 11, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (58) had taken oath as the 15th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh in a ceremony held at the historic Ridge Maidan of Shimla while Mukesh Agnihotri took the oath as the deputy chief minister.
Watch: Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu takes oath as 15th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh
Since then, the Congress government was functioning with chief minister and deputy chief minister as cabinet could not be formed due to intense infighting and lobbying among warring factions to adjust their MLAs in the cabinet.
In Himachal Pradesh, the cabinet can have 12 members and with the induction of 7 ministers now total strength of Cabinet has reached 9 and still 3 berths are lying vacant. It is being said that some of the senior MLAs who were not considered for the cabinet are not happy with the chief minister and this could intensify the internal battle within Congress in coming days.
This time not only the senior MLAs but even the even first timers were staking claim for the cabinet posts but Sukhu decided to induct MLAs who have won three or more elections with Vikramaditya Singh being the only exception who has won for the second time from Shimla (Rural) assembly constituency.
