Khattar expands cabinet; 3 new ministers inducted, 4 CPS take

Nine months after becoming Haryana's Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar today expanded his cabinet for the first time inducting three new ministers.
With the induction of three ministers, the Khattar government will now have total 13 ministers including the Chief Minister.
Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of affirmation and secrecy to three legislators at a ceremony held at Haryana Raj Bhawan here.
The three newly inducted ministers are - Krishan Lal Panwar (Cabinet rank), Ghanshyam Saraf (Minister of state with Independent charge) and Nayab Singh Saini (Minister of state).
Later, at a separate venue, the Chief Minister administered the oath to four party legislators as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.

They are Shyam Singh Rana, MLA from Radaur in Yamunanagar district, Bakhshish Singh Virk, MLA from Assandh in Karnal district and the lone Sikh face among BJP MLAs, Seema Trikha, MLA from Badhkal in Faridabad and Kamal Gupta, legislator from Hisar.

While the newly sworn-in Ministers and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries took oath in Hindi, Bakhshish Singh Virk took oath in Punjabi.
Krishan Lal Panwar is an MLA from Israna (Reserved) Assembly constituency in Panipat district while Ghanshyam Saraf and Nayab Saini represent Bhiwani and Naraingarh Assembly seats respectively.
Panwar, who belongs to Dalit community, is a five-time MLA, who had switched over to BJP ahead of 2014 Haryana Assembly polls. He had contested 2009 Assembly polls on INLD ticket.

After today's expansion of the Cabinet, apart from the Chief Minister, there are seven Cabinet Ministers, two Ministers of State with Independent charge and three Ministers of State. Besides, there are four Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.
One more MLA can be accommodated in the cabinet, which can have 13 members, including the Chief Minister.
The portfolio allocation to the new ministers would be done later.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and BJP Incharge, Haryana affairs, Anil Jain, Ministers in the Khattar Cabinet including Capt Abhimanyu, Anil Vij, Ram Bilas Sharma, Kavita Jain, besides Chief Secretary D S Dhesi, Principal Secretary to Khattar, Sanjeev Kaushal, were also present at both the venues.

The BJP had formed government in Haryana for the first time on its own strength. Elections to the 90-member state Assembly were held in October last year and the saffron party had wrested power from the Congress.