Chandigarh, March 10
Ten Haryana MLAs took oath as Cabinet Ministers in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Council of Ministers (COM) at a crowded ceremony held on the lawns of Raj Bhavan here today.
Mr Ajay Singh Yadav, Mr Birender Singh, Mr Chander Mohan, Ms Kartar Devi, Mr Lachman Dass Arora, Mr O.P. Jindal, Mr Phool Chand Mullana, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mr Surender Singh and Mr Venod Sharma were today sworn in as ministers by the Governor, Mr A.R. Kidwai.
With the induction of these ministers, the size of the Cabinet has become 11. Earlier, on March 5, only Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, four-time MP from Rohtak, took oath as the Chief Minister of Haryana.
The Governor also administered oath to Mr Raghubir Kadian as the Protem Speaker.
Mr Ajay Singh Yadav was the first MLA to be sworn in as a minister, with Mr Venod Sharma being the last, as Raj Bhavan followed the alphabetical order of their names to call the legislators to the dais.
Among the 10, only Mr Birender Singh was in informal dress (windcheater and cotton trousers). Mr Lachman Dass Arora wore a safari suit, Ms Kartar Devi was in a sari and Mr O.P. Jindal sported a gulabundh and trousers. The remaining six MLAs were dressed in kurta-pyjama while some of them also wore sleeveless jackets.
Mr Birender Singh, who was also a contender for the Chief Minister’s post, embraced Mr Hooda in a theatrical fashion on the podium after he took the oath of office and secrecy. The swearing in of all the ministers, except Mr Chandra Mohans was accompanied by loud cheering by their supporters. When Mr Chandra Mohan, son of Haryana Congress chief Bhajan Lal, took the oath, a lone voice was heard cheering the Kalka MLA.
Mr Bhajan Lal attended the swearing-in ceremony with his family including his MP son Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi.
Other Lok Sabha members, who were present at the ceremony, were Mr Naveen Jindal (son of Mr O.P. Jindal), Mr Avtar Singh Badhana and Mr Arvind Sharma. The MLAs, who were present, included Mr Anand Singh Dangi, Ms Sharda Rathore and Mr Dan Singh.
Among the 10 ministers sworn in today, Ms Kartar Devi and Mr Venod Sharma are staunch loyalists of the Chief Minister. Mr Ajay Singh Yadav and Mr O.P. Jindal too are detractors of Mr Bhajan Lal, though they cannot be branded as tested Hooda loyalists as such. Mr Chander Mohan and Mr Phulchand Mullana belong to the Bhajan Lal camp. Mr Birender Singh, Mr Randep Singh Surjewala and Mr Surender Singh (son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal) did not threaten to revolt against the party high command’s decision to crown Mr Hooda as the Chief Minister. Mr L.D. Arora was initially in the Bhajan Lal camp, though later he reportedly joined hands with Mr Hooda.
The people assembling at Raj Bhavan behaved in a more orderly fashion today than at the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister on March 5 when the crowd went berserk. The heavy police bandobast inside the Raj Bhavan premises today, however, irked many.
The police had set up barricades on the roads approaching Raj Bhavan since two in the afternoon to prevent unwarranted visitors from sneaking in. There was of course shoving and jostling, though it was less than what was witnessed on March
5.
