Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

Cabinet expansion after Nov 4 assembly session, says Khattar

CM says committees comprising leaders of BJP and JJP will formulate a common minimum programme

- HT Correspond­ent letterschd@hindustant­imes.com

CHANDIGARH: The newly elected members of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha will be administer­ed oath on November 4, the day the first session of the new assembly gets underway. The governor will also address the assembly, this being the first session of the new assembly. The election of the assembly speaker will also take place.

This was decided at a cabinet meeting attended by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

“The council of ministers will be expanded after the assembly session,’’ Khattar said on Tuesday. It is learnt that since a consensus between the two allies and seven Independen­ts over the induction of MLAs as ministers has not been arrived at, the cabinet expansion has been delayed.

Khattar said committees comprising leaders of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), will be constitute­d to formulate a common minimum programme (CMP) for the state.

After the cabinet meeting, Khattar held another round of meeting with Chautala and is understood to have discussed cabinet expansion plans.

Both Khattar and Dushyant were sworn in on Sunday in Chandigarh. The BJP which won 40 seats in the assembly elections, thus falling short of a simple majority by six seats, had entered into a post-poll alliance with Dushyant’s JJP to form the government. The BJP also claims to have the support of seven Independen­ts.

The chief minister said the state government will provide decomposer­s to the farmers at subsidised rates to encourage them to shun stubble burning.

The chief minister said the Haryana Teacher Eligibilit­y Test (HTET) examinatio­n centres will now be set up within a distance of 50km.

He said the Haryana Board of School Education has agreed to set up the examinatio­n centres for conducting the HTET exam.

Khattar said the state government was going to launch a 50% subsidy scheme for farmers to decompose the paddy straw in the fields. This will help curb pollution, he said, adding the scheme will certainly help in controllin­g paddy straw and paddy crop residue burning in the fields.

(With inputs from agencies)

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar paid a courtesy visit to President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi on Tuesday.
HT PHOTO Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar paid a courtesy visit to President Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi on Tuesday.

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