11 ministers take oath in CM Rawat’s cabinet
The entire cabinet came into existence on Friday after Tirath Singh Rawat was named as Chief Minister in Uttarakhand. 11 ministers took oath of office and secrecy at the ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Four new faces have been added to the cabinet. Barring former cabinet minister Madan Kaushik of the Trivandra cabinet, all other ministers have got a place in Tirath’s team. Apart from political experience in the formation of the cabinet, an attempt has been made to create regional and ethnic balance.
In the new cabinet, four cabinet and two ministers of state (independent charge) have been sworn in from Garhwal division. Pauri Garhwal dominated the cabinet with four ministers. Four cabinet ministers and one minister of state (independent charge) have also been made from Kumaon division.
The oath taking ceremony began at around 5:30 pm on Friday evening. Chief Secretary Om Prakash sought permission from Governor Baby Rani Maurya to start the program. He first named the members of the cabinet. The Governor in turn administered the oath of office and secrecy to all cabinet and state ministers.
Maharaj took oath first
Senior leader Satpal Maharaj took the oath of office and secrecy at the swearing-in ceremony. Banshidhar Bhagat, who had resigned from the post of BJP state president, joined the cabinet, Dr. Harak Singh Rawat in the third place, Bishan Singh Chufal on the fourth, Yashpal Arya on the fifth, Arvind Pandey on the sixth, Subodh Uniyal on the seventh and Ganesh Joshi took oath in the eighth place.
