Portfolios allotted to 3 new Chhattisgarh ministers; some depts reshuffled

Raipur, Aug 20 (PTI) Portfolios were allotted to the three new ministers in the Chhattisgarh cabinet on Wednesday while some other departments were reallocated.

BJP leaders Rajesh Agrawal, Guru Khushwant Saheb and Gajendra Yadav, all first-time MLAs, were administered the oath as ministers at the Raj Bhavan earlier in the day.

With this expansion, the strength of Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai's cabinet reached 14, the maximum it can have given the assembly's strength. The expansion also led to a reshuffle of departments of eight existing cabinet members, including the CM.

"The allocation of departments among ministers has been done. With clear division of work and responsibilities, my cabinet colleagues are ready with new energy to serve 'Chhattisgarh Mahtari' (Mother Chhattisgarh). All ministers are fully committed to fulfilling the aspirations of the people of the state, realizing our resolutions, and contributing wholeheartedly to building a developed Chhattisgarh, in line with the dream of developed India envisioned by our esteemed Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji," the CM said in a post on X in Hindi.

Gajendra Yadav was assigned School Education, Cottage Industry and Law and Legislative Affairs departments, while Saheb got charge of Skill Development, Technical Education and Employment and Scheduled Caste Development departments. Agrawal was allocated Tourism, Culture, Religious Trust and Endowment departments.

Earlier, School Education, Cottage Industry, Tourism, Culture, Religious Trust and Endowment departments were with chief minister Sai, while Law and Legislative Affairs was with deputy CM Arun Sao.

Technical Education and Employment was being held by deputy CM Vijay Sharma, Skill Development by Kedar Kashyap, and SC Development by Ram Vichar Netam.

The CM on Wednesday took charge of Water Resources department which was being handled by Kashyap.

The CM will continue to hold Mineral Resources, General Administration Department, Energy, Public Relations, Aviation, Water Resources, Good Governance and Convergence, Electronics and Information Technology, Public Grievance and Redressal and all other departments not assigned to any minister, the official statement said.

Kashyap, who already held Forest and Climate Change, Cooperative and Parliamentary Affairs, was allocated another department- Transport, which was with the CM.

Deputy CM Sao will now also handle Sports and Youth Welfare along with his existing portfolios of Public Works, Public Health Engineering and Urban Administration.

Sports and Youth Welfare department was earlier with minister Tank Ram Verma.

Verma, who holds Revenue and Disaster Management and Rehabilitation departments, was additionally assigned Higher Education which was with the CM.

Lakhan Lal Dewangan, who holds Commerce and Industry and Public Sector Undertaking, was also given charge of Commercial Tax (Excise) which was with the CM.

Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, who holds Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education and Twenty Point Implementation departments, has been additionally given the charge of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Minorities Development which was with Netam.

The portfolios of O P Choudhary (Finance, Commercial Tax (Except Excise), Housing and Environment and Planning, Economics and Statistics), Laxmi Rajwade (Women and Child Development and Social Welfare) and Dayaldas Baghel (Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection) remain unchanged.

After the expansion, the cabinet has seven OBC members -- Deputy CM Sao, Dewangan, Jaiswal, Choudhary, Verma, Rajwade and newly-inducted Yadav.

CM Sai, Netam and Kashyap belong to Scheduled Tribes, Baghel and newly-inducted Guru Khushwant Saheb are from the Scheduled Caste category, while Deputy CM Sharma and newly-inducted Agrawal are from the general category.

Laxmi Rajwade is the only woman member in the cabinet.

The Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state by ousting the Congress in the assembly polls held in November 2023.

The BJP won 54 seats, while the Congress got 35 seats and Gondwana Gantantra Party one. PTI TKP KRK