Hooda ministry to be sworn in Saturday

Chandigarh, Nov 6 : The Congress government in Haryana led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will induct new ministers Saturday, 15 days after the assembly poll results came Oct 22, an official said Friday.

Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia will swear in the new ministers.

The swearing-in ceremony was earlier slated for Friday morning but was called off at the eleventh hour, ostensibly owing to differences within the Congress party and with its supporting legislators over sharing of ministry berths.

It is still not clear who all and how many ministers will make it to the Hooda government.

Hooda was himself sworn-in the chief minister Oct 25 after the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats in the 90-member assembly in last month's assembly poll.

The Congress fell short of a simple majority in the assembly by six seats.

However, his council of ministers could not be inducted owing to pressures within the party.

The Congress won the support of all seven Independent candidates elected to the assembly in Oct 13 election. It also got the support of the lone Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in the assembly.

The Congress has also been trying to hobnob with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) led by former chief minister Bhajan Lal and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi. The HJC has six legislators in the assembly.

Hooda will surely accommodate some Independent legislators and also those from the HJC if it joins the government.

Sources in the Congress party said that up to eight ministers could be sworn-in Friday.

Prominent names doing rounds include Randeep Singh Surjewala, Venod Sharma, Kiran Chaudhary, Ajay Singh Yadav and Savitri Jindal. There will be 3-4 new faces who will be inducted as ministers, the sources added.

Hooda, who had a firm grip over the government in his previous tenure (2005-2009), is unlikely to have a complete say in choosing ministers of his choice this time given the lesser number of seats that the Congress won in the October assembly poll.

His differences with former minister Kiran Chaudhary, who is now seeking a cabinet berth, are well known.

The ministry in Haryana cannot be bigger than 14 members, including the chief minister.

The assembly has 90 members and under the law, the ministry cannot be more than 15 percent of the total strength of the assembly.

Of the 10 ministers in the previous Hooda government, five lost the elections.

These include Birender Singh, Lachhman Dass Arora, Meena Mandal, Mange Ram Gupta and A.C. Chaudhary.

Another minister, Harmohinder Singh Chatha, has been made the assembly speaker this time. He was the agriculture minister in the previous government.

Hooda will Saturday also induct chief parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries after the ministers are sworn-in.