In Rajasthan, as many as 23 newly elected legislators on Monday took oath as ministers in the cabinet formation. Out of these 23, 22 are from the Congress and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
13 are cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state.
After spending three days in New Delhi for a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior party functionaries, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot returned to the state capital on Sunday.
Both took oath on December 17.
According to the sources, after rounds of discussion with Rahul Gandhi, the names of the council of ministers have been finalised by the state Congress leaders including Gehlot and Pilot. In Jaipur, the swearing-in ceremony took place at 11.30 AM.
AICC general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Avinash Pandey and Congress observer for the state on government formation, K C Venugopal, besides AICC secretaries for the state were also involved in the deliberations for deciding on the ministers, the sources said.
Rahul Gandhi intends to focus on having a cabinet with a majority being fresh faces, sources said, adding the cabinet will be a blend of the old and new guard and will give an opportunity to those who have not held ministerial portfolios in the past.
Meanwhile, Gehlot has so far initiated a few transfers of officials with the likelihood of a thorough reshuffle of bureaucrats after the cabinet formation.
"As many as 22 Congress and one alliance partner RLD's MLA are likely to take oath at Raj Bhawan on Monday," a party leader informed.
Those who took the oath are BD Kalla, Raghu Sharma, Shanti Dhariwal, Lal Chand Kataria, Pramod Jain Bhaya, Parsadi Lal Meena, Vishvendra Singh, Harish Choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Udai Lal Anjana, Saleh Mohammad and Govind Singh Dotasara.
Mamta Bhupesh, Arjun Singh Bamaniya, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandna, Tikaram Jully, Bhajanlal Jatav, Rajendra Singh Yadav and RLD's Subhash Garg also took the oath.
Rajasthan can have a total of 30 ministers including the chief minister and the Gehlot cabinet will have some vacancies left which will be filled later.
WATCH VIDEO: Rajasthan Cabinet: 22 Congress MLAs, 1 RLD MLA to take oath at 11:30 am in Raj Bhavan
(With inputs from PTI)
