M A I N   N E W S

Round 1: 9 make it to Team Hooda 
n All Independents adjusted, one in Cabinet, 3 as MoS, 3 as CPS n Five from Congress take oath in Cabinet n Heavyweights Kiran, Kadian, Jindal, Sampat left out 
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 7
Six Cabinet ministers and three ministers of state -- that’s the tally of team Bhupinder Singh Hooda after round one of his ministry expansion in Haryana. A new-look Cabinet with a repeat of only two ministers from the previous Cabinet was sworn in by Haryana Governor Jagan Nath Pahadia at the Haryana Raj Bhawan here today.

With this, the size of the Hooda ministry has gone up to 10, including the Chief Minister himself. Since talks with the Haryana Janhit Congress remained inconclusive yesterday, four Cabinet berths have been left vacant to “accommodate” its members as and when they agree to “fall in line” and lend support. While all seven Independents who backed the Congress during the crucial trust vote in the House on October 28 have been duly “rewarded” in various capacities, four of them have accommodated in the Council of Ministers itself.

Their gain has been the loss of a few heavyweights in the party like Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadian, Kiran Choudhry, Savitri Jindal and Sampat Singh, who have been left waiting in the wings to make place for the Independents. Only time will tell if at all these leaders will find a place in the Cabinet. Six-time MLA Capt Ajay Yadav, dressed in a black suit, was the first to take oath at the well-managed ceremony conducted at the aesthetically done-up venue bedecked with flowers. Unlike the oath ceremony of the Chief Minister where the crowd ran amuck, stringent security arrangements had been made this time and everything from the seating arrangement to the entry had been worked out to the the minutest detail.

Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama with a blue jacket, Randeep Singh Surjewala was called in next for taking oath. Both Yadav and Surjewala, were ministers during the previous regime of the Hooda government.

The other Cabinet ministers who were sworn in are Mahendra Pratap, OP Jain, the only Independent who has been given the Cabinet minister status, Paramvir Singh and Geeta Bhukkal, the only woman in the Cabinet so far. Ministers of State and first-timer MLAs Shiv Charan Sharma and Gopal Kanda were also sworn in and have not been given independent charge. Instead, they have been attached to various ministers. Interestingly, Sukhbir Kataria, reportedly held up in traffic, could not make it in time for the ceremony and was administered the oath of office in the afternoon.

Though all ministers have their hands full, juggling a number of key departments at present, any new inductions, at a later stage, could translate into “load-shedding” for these ministers. The Hooda Cabinet has attempted to strike a balance among various castes by inducting an Ahir, a Jat, a Punjabi and a Brahmin among others though a number of big districts have gone unrepresented in this first round of expansion, the prominent among these being Ambala, Jind, Hisar and Bhiwani besides Kurukshetra, Karnal, Palwal and Yamunanagar.

The new-look Cabinet and the “unequal” representation in the Cabinet also has its roots in the fact that most of the ministers lost the election this time, resulting in an opportunity for newcomers. Unlike the last time when three Cabinet ministers came from Jind, this time the district has no representation in the Cabinet because the Congress scored a duck. In this Cabinet, Faridabad has turned out to be the luckiest with Cabinet Minister Mahendra Pratap and MoS Shiv Charan Sharma representing the district.

Highlights

w Two ministers from the previous Hooda regime, Capt Ajay Yadav and Randeep Singh Surjewala, have been retained in the new Cabinet.

w Kiran Choudhry and Savitri Jindal, mother of industrialist and MP Naveen Jindal, were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing-in.

w A number of districts have gone unrepresented in the new Cabinet

w Sukhbir Kataria, an Independent legislator, could not make it in time for the ceremony as he was held up in traffic. He was administered the oath of office in the afternoon.

w Unable to find a “suitable seat”, former Lt Governor of Goa Chadravati left the venue before the ceremony began.

Portfolios at a glance*

Cabinet Ministers

Capt Ajay Yadav: Finance, Irrigation, Forests and Environment.

Randeep Singh Surjewala:

Public Health, Parliamentary Affairs, PW (B&R)

Mahender Partap Singh:

Power, Labour, Food and Supplies, Urban Local Bodies, Industries.

Om Parkash Jain (Indep):

Transport and Tourism

Paramvir Singh: Agriculture and Animal Husbandry

Geeta Bhukkal: Education, Health.

Ministers of State

Shiv Charan Sharma: Revenue and Disaster Management (attached with Chief Minister), Consolidation and Rehabilitation

Gopal Kanda: Home (attached with Chief Minister), Sports and Youth Affairs (attached with Chief Minister), Industries and Commerce (attached with Industries Minister).

Sukhbir Kataria: Agriculture and Cooperation (attached with Agriculture & Cooperation Ministers).