Finally, Himachal Cabinet expansion today

Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service
Shimla, July 29

The much-awaited Cabinet expansion will take place tomorrow and three ministers will be inducted at a simple ceremony restricted for 50 persons at Raj Bhawan. The event will be live telecast across the state.

Sources said preparations have been made at Raj Bhawan to accommodate 50 persons for the ceremony while three rooms have been readied by the secretariat administration for the new ministers.

MLAs from Sirmaur and Hamirpur districts and a legislator from Kangra are likely to be inducted.

The frontrunners include Paonta Sahib legislator Sukh Ram Chaudhary, who is a three-time MLA and hails from the OBC community. Moreover, Sirmaur district still remains unrepresented in the government. Nurpur MLA Rakesh Pathania is also likely to be inducted, as Krishan Kapoor and Vipin Parmar both belong to Kangra and it is legitimate that the district gets at least one seat in the ministry.

The name of Deputy Speaker Hans Raj is also doing the rounds for a ministerial berth. If he finds a berth in the Cabinet, the contenders for the post of Deputy Speaker include Vikram Jaryal, Bhattiyat MLA from Chamba, Hamirpur MLA Narinder Thakur and Kamlesh Kumari, Bhoranj MLA in Hamirpur.

With the contenders lobbying hard with the Central leadership and national BJP chief JP Nadda there could be last-minute changes. There is talk in the BJP circles of Urban Development Minister Sarveen Chaudhary being shifted as Speaker and Vipin Parmar, a close confidant of the Chief Minister, making a comeback into the ministry.

Speculation is rife about the induction of three ministers to fill the posts lying vacant for the last more than a year. The vacancies were created following the resignation of Sukh Ram’s son Anil Sharma and Dharamsala MLA and now MP Kishan Kapoor contesting the parliamentary poll. The third berth fell vacant after Health Minister Vipin Parmar was made the Vidhan Sabha Speaker.

Thakur had earlier said that the expansion would take place only after the person to be appointed as the state BJP president was decided. However, the expansion got delayed due to the outbreak of coronavirus.