CM Gehlot allocates portfolios, retains home, finance ministry

Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday allocated portfolios to ministers of his expanded cabinet, retaining home and finance with him.

Twelve new ministers were inducted and three ministers of state were elevated to the cabinet rank. The 15 ministers were sworn in on Sunday for the expanded Gehlot cabinet, fulfilling a key demand of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot whose rebellion last year shook the state’s Congress government.

The chief minister along with the finance and home portfolios, has kept taxation, personnel, general administration cabinet secretariat, information and public relation, and information technology and communication.

The department for NRI and the Rajasthan State Investigation Bureau are under Gehlot. Following the expansion, the council of ministers in the state has 19 cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state. The Rajasthan Cabinet can have a maximum of 30 ministers, including the chief minister.

From the old cabinet -- Pratap Singh Khachariyawas was allocated food and civil supplies, Shanti Dhariwal retained urban development and housing, and parliamentary affairs, Lal Chand Kataria retained agriculture and Pramod Jain Bhaya retained mines and petroleum.

BD Kalla and Parsadi Lal Meena were allocated education, and health and excise respectively. -(PTI)