Khanduri expands Cabinet

NEW DELHI: Uttarakhand chief minister Bhuwan Chand Khanduri on Tuesday expanded his council of ministers, inducting 10 new members in his team. The exercise saw the retired Army Major-General struggling to strike the right regional and caste balance. He also gave a berth each to the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and the three-member group of independents, all of whom are backing the BJP-led government in the hill-state. With this, the number of ministers in the state has touched the constitutionally-mandated limit of 12.

Besides Mr Khanduri, former assembly speaker Prakash Pant, who represents Pithoragarh, had been sworn in as a minister earlier in the month. In a state sharply divided along caste and regional lines, Mr Khanduri had his task cut out, trying to give equal representation to MLAs belonging to the two main regions —Garhwal and Kumaon. He also had to induct a member from the plains.

The expansion carried out in Dehardun after protracted consultations with the BJP’s central leadership saw Garhwalis holding a slight edge over Kumaonis. While Garhwal has six ministers in the team, there are five members from Kumaon. Mr Madan Kaushik, who won the Hardwar seat by a record margin of 28, 640 votes, is the sole representative from the plains.

The contingent from Garhwal includes, besides the chief minister, Mr Matbar Singh Kandari (Rudraprayag), Mr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (Thalisain), Mr Trivendra Singh Rawat (Doiwala), UKD’s Diwakar Bhagat (Deoprayag) and Nandprayag MLA Rajendra Bhandari (Ind.).

Representing Kumaon in the council of ministers are, besides Mr Pant, Mr Vishan Singh Chufal(Didihat), Mr Bansidhar Bhagat, the BJP MLA who vanquished Ms Indira Hridayesh, the powerful minister in Mr Narayan Dutt Tiwari’s team, from Haldwani, Ms Veena Maharana (Champawat) and Mr Ajay Tamta (Someshwar).

While Ms Maharana is the only female in the council of ministers, Mr Tamta, an active RSS member, is the only Dalit. The two MLAs are the only first-timers in the team, and have been designated ministers of state. While there are six Brahmins in the council of ministers, there are five Thakurs. Mr Khanduri leads the pack of Brahmins, which also include Mr Pant, Mr Nishank, Mr Bhatt, Mr Bhagat and Mr Kaushik.

The Thakur contingent includes Mr Kandari, Mr Bhandari, Mr Rawat, Mr Chufal and Ms Maharana. In the 70-member assembly, the BJP has a strength of 34. It also enjoys the backing of the three-member UKD and the three independents. The result of the Bazpur assembly segment will be out on Wednesday. Election to the constituency, which falls in the Udham Singh Nagar district, was postponed because of the death of the Congress candidate.