Two more ministers may be inducted into the Himachal Cabinet
Two more councils of ministers would be inducted in the nine members of the cabinet of one year of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government.
According to sources Governer is out of state and if he returns today the expansion likely to be held after 1430 hrs on Tuesday.
Among those who are shortlisted are members of the legislative assembly from Ghumerwin of Bilaspur district Rajesh Dharmani who is four times members of assembly. Another member would be Yadvinder Goma from Jaisinghpur of Kangra.
Mr Dharmani would arrive in Shimla and Mr Goma was also called by the Chief minister to attend Cabinet expansion.
The state General Administration is already preparing for the oath which might be held around 1430hrs. Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Partap Shukla reported to be in New Delhi and likely to be returned by the afternoon.
Currently, including Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri there are nine councils of ministers in the state cabinet, and expansion has been on the board for the last year. The state could induct three more ministers in the 68-member legislature as number of ministers couldn’t exceed 12.
Currently, there was an imbalance in the COMs as now minister was in the state government from Mandi, Kullu, and Lahaul Spiti district, and out of ten MLAs from the biggest Kangra district there was only one cabinet minister.
Among the current members of the COM are three ministers from Shimla including Rohit Thakur from Jubbal and Kotkhai, Vikramaditya Singh from Rural Shimla, and Anirudh Singh from Kasumpti. Dr Dhani Ram Shandil from Solan, Harshvardhan Chauhan from Sirmour, Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur, and Chander Kumar from Kangra. Kuldeep Singh Pathania is the speaker from Chamba district.
Three seats in the Council of Ministers are vacant for the last year. Mr Sukhu has been given the green signal for cabinet expansion recently during the completion of one one-year celebration.
