Rawat sworn in as U’khand CM, 5 Congress turncoats inducted
NEW CABINET Murmurs in BJP as only four party veterans find place in new council
Former Rashtryiya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) pracharak Trivendra Singh Rawat took oath on Saturday as the ninth chief minister of Uttarakhand in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after he was elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party.
Rawat, 56, took oath along with nine party legislators, of which five were Congress turncoats. In all, 10 Congress leaders joined the BJP in the wake of the last year’s political crisis that saw the BJP-led Centre imposing the President’s rule in the state and ousting the Congress government. It was, however, reinstated after it won the trust vote in the Supreme Court (SC) monitored floor test five months later.
The nine BJP legislators who took the oath of office are Satpal Maharaj, Prakash Pant, Dr Harak Singh Rawat, Madan Kaushik, Yashpal Arya, Arvind Pandey, Subodh Uniyal, Rekha Arya and Dhan Singh Rawat. Of these, two—Rekha Arya and Dhan Singh took oath as ministers of state.
The chief minister can include at the most two more legislators in his cabinet owing to the constitutional binding of the Cabinet strength of 12 in the 70 member house.
But, what has created dismay within the BJP was the inclusion of Congress rebels in the cabinet. The turncoats accommodated are Satpal Maharaj, who joined BJP before 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Harak Singh Rawat, Yashpal Arya, Rekha Arya and Subodh Uniyal. Thus, only four veteran BJP legislators found a place in the newly constituted council.
Rawat tried to strike a caste balance in his cabinet. It comprises four Brahmin and Thakur legislators each in proportion to their respective demographic share besides two legislators belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
The 10-member Rawat cabinet is also a combination of experience and youth. It is comprises five former ministers and four fresh faces. The BJP swept the February 15 assembly election winning 57 seats in a House of 70 legislators. Modi is the first prime minister to attend the swearing -in ceremonies of CMs.
Modi reached the venue of the swearing-in ceremony accompanied by BJP chief Amit Shah, however, left the people disappointed as he chose not to address a public meeting. A large number of people had gathered only to listen to him speak.
The BJP had hyped up the PM’s visit by publicising that he would be addressing a public meeting after the swearing-in.