Khattar inducts three new ministers; drops two

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expanded his 21-month old ministry on Friday with the induction of three new ministers. He also dropped two ministers.

The new ministers are Vipul Goel (Faridabad), Manish Grover (Rohtak) and Banwari Lal (Bawal).

Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of office and secrecy to the three BJP legislators at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan here.

While Goel has been made a cabinet minister, Grover and Lal have been inducted as ministers of state (MoS) with independent charge.

Khattar also dropped two ministers of state - Ghanshyam Saraf and Bikram Singh Thekedar - from his ministry. Both ministers had submitted their resignations to the chief minister earlier which were forwarded to the governor for acceptance.

The Khattar government, which is the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana, assumed office on October 26, 2014. This is the second expansion carried out by Khattar.

The departments of some sitting ministers are likely to be reshuffled following Friday's expansion.

After the latest 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.

Khattar, talking to media later, avoided giving reasons for dropping the two ministers. However, sources in the state government said that the chief minister and the party were not happy with their performance.

"The resignation by two ministers is a general process. As the number of ministers is limited in the cabinet, replacement is the only option to give chance to other legislators. If required, such changes would also be made in future," Khattar said.

--IANS

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