Uttarakhand’s new Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat Friday constituted his Cabinet inducting 11 ministers who were sworn in by the state governor.
Barring newly appointed state BJP president Madan Kaushik, all other state ministers in former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat’s council have been made ministers in the new government.
The ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Baby Rani Maurya in a simple function at the Raj Bhavan.
The swearing-in ceremony, which was held by a delay of around 25 minutes, was attended by Chief Minister Rawat, former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, Vijay Bahuguna along with several MLAs and other prominent people.
Chief Minister Rawat had been sworn in all alone on March 10. Besides the old ministers in Trivendra Singh Rawat’s government, four new faces were inducted into the Tirath Rawat’s council of ministers. Out of 11 newly inducted ministers, eight have been made Cabinet ministers and three state ministers with independent charges.
The new faces in the Tirath Rawat’s council of the ministers are MLAs Banshidhar Bhagat, Bishan Singh Chufal, Ganesh Joshi and Swami Yatiswaranand, respectively from Kaladhungi, Didihat, Mussoorie and Haridwar (Rural) assembly segments. Out of the four, Bhagat, Chufal and Joshi have been made Cabinet ministers while Yatiswaranand has been made a state minister Uttarakhand with a 70-member assembly can have a total of 12 ministers including the chief minister and with the induction of 11 ministers in the government on Friday, Tirath Rawat’s council of ministers has attained its full strength. Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj who had won the seat in 2017 assembly polls has been given the second position in the council of ministers.
Besides Maharaj, the other ministers of the Trivendra Singh Rawat government included in the Tirath Rawat’s council are Harak Singh Rawat, Yashpal Arya, Arvind Pandey, Subodh Uniyal, Dhansingh Rawat and Rekha Arya. Dhansingh Rawat and Rekha Arya have been made state ministers.
Congratulating the new ministers after the swearing-in ceremony, Chief Minister Rawat said his government will advance the development work in the state with cooperation from all his ministers and others. All ministers, except Pandey, who took the oath in Sanskrit, did it in Hindi. Rekha Arya participated in the swearing-in ceremony in traditional attire.