Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot’s cabinet now a full house

JAIPUR: With the hope that chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot would bury their differences for good, the Congress central leadership orchestrated a cabinet rejig in Rajasthan by taking the state’s council of ministers to its full strength of 30 on Sunday.
For the past 16 months, there were nine vacancies, which increased to 12 three days back, even as Pilot insisted on filling these at the earliest. Striking a balance in accommodating supporters of the two leaders was a tightrope walk for the Congress leadership and, hence, the delay.
Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oath of office to 15 ministers, which included 12 new faces and three juniors getting a promotion, at the Raj Bhavan in the evening. A total of 11 cabinet ministers and four junior ministers were sworn in in the presence of Gehlot and Pilot.
Zahida Khan, the lone Muslim MLA among the new recruits, took the oath in English, while the others preferred Hindi. Six-term MLA and former cabinet minister Hemaram Chaudhary, a Jat leader from western Rajasthan, was the first to be sworn in. He was among the 19 Congress MLAs who revolted against Gehlot last year.
Political appointments in boards/commissions and induction of parliamentary secretaries are expected in the coming days to appease the disgruntled members left out of the cabinet expansion. None of the 13 independent MLAs, who supported the Congress government in its crisis last year, have been made ministers.
Both Gehlot and Pilot looked cheerful all through the day and termed the rejig a ‘balanced’ and ‘well thought out’ exercise by the Congress central leadership. Pilot went to the extent of saying that the development has guaranteed the repeat of Congress government in Rajasthan in 2023. “We will now break the state’s tradition of electing alternate governments from among Congress and BJP every five years,” Pilot said.
Before the swearing in ceremony, the new ministers were honoured at the PCC headquarters.
Chief minister Gehlot, while addressing Congressmen at the party event, said, “The contribution to governance of those who could not be inducted today is no less than those who have been made ministers. As Sonia Gandhi ji said once, their patience would be rewarded one day.”
Urging ministers to give preference to addressing people’s grievances, Gehlot said, “Ministers should fix a time when people can come to meet daily without prior appointment. As ministers your responsibilities are towards the entire state and not just towards your constituencies.