Jaipur: After a long stalemate, the cabinet in Rajasthan was expanded on Sunday. Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oath of office and secrecy to 11 cabinet and four ministers of state at a ceremony organised at Raj Bhavan. The new ministers include three who were ministers of state in the previous council of ministers and have now been promoted. Twelve are new faces, including one legislator from the six BSP MLAs who merged themselves with the Congress.Apart from the three ministers who lost their berths because of the ‘one man, one post’ rule, no other former minister has lost the post. On Friday, Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra regained the position of education minister, AICC in charge of Punjab Harish Choudhary stepped down as revenue minister and Raghu Sharma put in his papers as the health minister and got the post of in charge of Gujarat. Dotasra was a minister of state with independent charge and Choudhary and Sharma were cabinet ministers.After the revolt of 18 Congress legislators under the leadership of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot in July last year, there had been demands for cabinet expansion and political appointments. Ajay Maken, who is party in charge of Rajasthan, had given several deadlines for completion of these processes. But every time, both these events got postponed over something or the else. The formula for the reorganisation of the cabinet was made after chief minister Ashok Gehlot met party president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on November 11, and the cabinet expansion was executed on Sunday (November 21) evening.In Gehlot’s new team, there are three cabinet and two ministers of state from the Pilot camp. Two of these, Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, were cabinet ministers during the July revolt. After the homecoming, Singh had switched sides to the the Gehlot camp, but Meena had been trying to please both Gehlot and Pilot.Apart from Singh and Meena, Hemaram Choudhary has been made a cabinet minister from the Pilot camp. After the resignation of Harish Choudhary, Hemaram seemed to be a natural claimant in view of the caste and local equations. Both these legislators come from Barmer and are tall Jat leaders. The two ministers of state from the Pilot camp are Bijendra Ola and Murari Meena.Also read: Rajasthan: Cheating, Paper Leaks in Govt Exams Put Aspirants’ Lives at StakeIn the cabinet reorganisation two years and 11 months after government formation, there have been attempts to balance the caste and local equations apart from the bickering within the party. Four Dalit legislators have found place in the new cabinet. Three of them – Mamta Bhupesh, Bhajan Lal Jatav and Tikaram Jully – have been promoted from junior ministers to cabinet ranks and Govind Meghwal is a new entry as a cabinet minister. After the death of Master Bhanwarlal Meghwal, there was no Scheduled Caste face in Gehlot’s cabinet.Tribal MLAs have also got importance in the reorganisation exercise. In order to blunt to growing stature of the Bharatiya Tribal Party in southern Rajasthan, Mahendra Jit Singh Malviya has been inducted as a cabinet minister. He was the rural development and panchayati raj minister in the Gehlot cabinet from 2008 to 2013. His wife Reshma Malviya is zila pramukh, head of district panchayat, in Banswara. Malviya himself has held this post in the past. Apart from Malviya, Ramesh Meena as cabinet minister and Murali Meena as minister of state are also from Scheduled Tribes. From the minorities, Zahida Khan has been made a minister of state. Saleh Mohammad is already a Muslim face in the cabinet.Gehlot’s new team has four ministers from the Jat community, the most powerful group in terms of population and political awareness. Hemaram Choudhary, Vishvendra Singh and Ramlal Jat are cabinet ministers and Bikendra Ola is the junior minister. Lal Chand Kataria, already in the cabinet, is also a Jat face. From among the six BSP legislators who jumped ship to merge themselves with the Congress, only one – Rajendra Singh Gudha – has found place in the cabinet. He has been made a minister of state. None of the independent legislators supporting the Gehlot government have been made ministers.After the cabinet reorganisation, both the Gehlot and the Pilot camps desisted from making statements that would make the party high command uncomfortable. Gehlot said, “The role of those who could not be made ministers is no less in the government. They will also be adjusted. People who keep patience do get a chance some day. Rajasthan is known for alternating governments between (the BJP and the Congress). But this time the Congress will repeat the government. The party is united to achieve this.”Pilot, on the other hand, said, “The issues that we raised have been addressed. The representation of Dalits and women has increased. If there’s a problem in any department, we will work together to sort that out. The 2018 election was fought by a collective leadership and the next election shall also be contested under a collective leadership. Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi took interest in the affairs of Rajasthan and took feedback from everyone.”He added that the reorganisation was done after discussions with all leaders. “Four Dalits have been made ministers because there was no Dalit in our government earlier. The representation of tribal brothers and sisters has also been increased. I have performed the responsibility give to me by the Congress party to the best of my ability. In future also I shall work according to the directions of the party,” he said.So is it to be believed that through the expansion of the cabinet, the party high command has been successful in bringing in both the Congress camps in the state? Political analyst Tarun Dutt says that it looks like this at the moment, but the tussle between the two will continue. “Sachin wants to become the chief minister while Ashok Gehlot wants him to stay away from Rajasthan politics. In such a situation, the game of check and beat will continue from both the sides,” he said.“It will be interesting to see what role the high command decides on for Sachin Pilot. At present, instead of giving him a post in Rajasthan, he can be made the national general secretary and made in-charge of any state. A decision on this has been taken in Pilot’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Pilot will remain active in Rajasthan even after becoming in-charge of another state. Pilot himself has said that he is ready for the responsibility the high command will give,” Dutt added.Avadhesh Akodia is an independent journalist. He tweets @AvadheshJpr.
