Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar effects cabinet reshuffle; inducts three ministers

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday effected a reshuffle in his cabinet by inducting one Cabinet-rank minister and two ministers of state with Independent charge, taking its strength to 14. Faridabad MLA Vipul Goyal was inducted as a Cabinet-rank minister, while legislators Munish Grover from Rohtak and Banwari Lal from Bawal got the Minister of State rank with Independent Charge. [caption id=“attachment_2909616” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file image of Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. PTI[/caption] Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered oath to the three new ministers. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, state Finance Minister Abhimanyu and state Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma were present on the occasion. However, the new ministers have not been allotted portfolios yet. To accommodate the new ministers, Minister of State for Public Health Engineering Ghanshyam Saraf and Minister of State for Cooperation Bikram Thekedar have resigned from their posts. Before the induction of the new ministers, the Khattar government had 13 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Nine months after assuming office (in October, 2014), Khattar had expanded his cabinet for the first time inducting three new ministers. Since then, apart from the Chief Minister, there were seven cabinet ministers, two ministers of state with independent charge and three ministers of state. Besides, there were four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. The state government can have a maximum of 14 ministers. Meanwhile, Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on Friday accepted the resignation of two ministers - Ghanshyam Saraf and Bikram Singh Thekedar. After Friday’s expansion of the Cabinet, apart from Chief Minister, there are eight Cabinet Ministers, two Ministers of State with Independent charge and three Ministers of State. Later on, while interacting with media persons, the Chief Minister said in reply to a question concerning reasons for resignation by two Ministers that it is a general process. As the number of Minister is limited in the Cabinet, replacement is the only option to give chance to other legislators. He said that, if required, such changes would also be made in future. In reply to another question he said that while acting swiftly, a Special Investigation Team has been constituted to further investigate the case of gangrape at Rohtak and the culprits have also been arrested by the police. Investigation is in progress and the guilty would not be spared.