)
At a function held in Raj Bhawan, the nine ministers took oath of office and secrecy administered by Governor Shekhar Dutt. With this, the number of Council of Ministers in Chhattisgarh had increased to 10 including the Chief Minister. As per the norms, the number had to be confined to 13 as the strength of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly was 90.
The Chief Minister, though picked up the legislators for cabinet in a balanced way, had kept three posts vacant. Sensing the resentment or imbalance in the equation, he would accordingly select the members for future expansion. The ruling BJP leaders hinted that the next expansion would be only after Lok Sabha elections.
“The MLAs would be pressed into service to bag maximum Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh assuring the best performer a berth in the cabinet,” one of the leaders said.
In the cabinet formation, two ministers in the earlier cabinet had been dropped. Vikram Usendi and Dayaldas Baghel could not find a place in the cabinet this time. All the region and caste had been given representation in the cabinet.
While Ramsevak Paikra (Home, Jail and Public Health Engineering portfolio) and Kedar Kashyap (SC/ST welfare and school education) are from scheduled tribe, Punnulal Mohile (food) represents the scheduled caste. Ramsheela Sahu (women and child welfare) and Ajay Chandrakar (Panchayat, Culture and Tourism) belong to Other Backward Class.
While the chief minister is from the General Class, Prem Prakash Pandey (Revenue) had been picked up from Brahman quota. The cabinet would have two members from the Agrawal community namely Brijmohan Agrawal (Water Resources, Agriculture) and Amar Agrawal (Health, Commercial Tax and Labour).
Rajesh Munat, who had been allocated important departments including Public Works, Transport and Housing would represent the minority class.
The chief minister would hold the remaining portfolios that include Forests, Mining, Power, Industry and Commerce.
