Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Manohar Lal Khattar late tonight allocated portfolios retaining charge of Home and some other key departments, making senior cabinet colleagues Capt Abhimanyu the Finance Minister and assigning Ram Bilas Sharma Transport and Education.
Khattar will hold most departments including Home, Power, Town and Country Planning, Urban Estates, Science and Technology, IT, Information and Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, plus any department not specified to any minister, an official spokesman said here tonight.
Capt Abhimanyu has been assigned Finance, Excise and Taxation, Revenue and Disaster Management, Forests and Environment, Industry and Commerce.
Sharma has been given the Education, Transport, Technical Education, Food and Supplies, Tourism, Civil Aviation, Parliamentary Affairs, among other departments.
The portfolio allocation came three days after Khattar was sworn in as the first BJP Chief Minister. The six Cabinet Ministers have been alloted other departments while the three Ministers of State will hold departments attached to the main ministry.
O P Dhankar is the new Agriculture and Irrigation Minister, while five-time legislator Anil Vij gets Health and Sports and Youths Affairs Departments and Rao Narbir Singh will be the new Public Works (B&R) and Public Health Engineering Minister.
The lone woman minister in the Khattar ministry, Kavita Jain has been allocated Social Justice and Empowerment department and will also hold charge of the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes.
Among the Ministers of State, Vikram Singh Thekedar will hold the Cooperation Department (Independent charge) while Krishan Kumar Bedi will hold Social Justice and Empowerment portfolio, attached with Jain.
Karan Dev Kamboj will hold Food and Supplies department, attached with Sharma.
The newly-inducted ministers in the Manohar Lal Khattar government were today allotted official rooms in the state secretariat.
60-year-old Khattar had taken oath as Chief Minister on Sunday at Panchkula, the ceremony being attended by a galaxy of leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and L K Advani.
The nine ministers had also taken the oath at the ceremony on Sunday.
