After a long churn, the new cabinet in Rajasthan was finally allocated portfolios late in Wednesday night after several rounds of intense3 discussion with the party president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal mocked the process and said, ‘there are two governments in the state, one headed by Gehlot and the other by his deputy, Pilot.’
The portfolio allocation to the 23 ministers was preceded by several rounds of meetings in Delhi since chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot were in Delhi to iron out difference over the distribution of portfolios as they did not agree on the allocation of the home and finance departments.
Earlier on Wednesday, Arjun Ram Meghwal was in Bharatpur where he mocked the delay in portfolio distribution after the ministers were sworn in on December 24. State BJP president Madanlal Saini said the two parallel governments in the state were fighting each other.
Gehlot met senior Congress leaders Avinash Pande and KC Venugopal before the three went to meet party president Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi met Pilot after this meeting. Reports suggested that Rahul Gandhi went to meet his sister Priyanka Gandhi after these meetings. Gehlot, meanwhile, returned to Jodhpur House. Gandhi and Gehlot met twice thereafter before the orders for the portfolio allocation were issued around 2 am.
Ashok Gehlot vs Sachin Pilot: Who gets what?
Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh allocated the portfolios to the council of ministers late on Wednesday night with the advice of the chief minister Ashok Gehlot, kept nine departments with him, including finance, home, excise, planning, personnel, state intelligence, information technology, and general administration departments.
On the other hand, Pilot has been given five departments. They include public works, rural development, and Panchayati Raj, science and technology and statistics, according to an order by the cabinet secretariat.
Apart from the chief minister and deputy chief minister, 13 cabinet and 10 ministers of state were allocated portfolios. The cabinet expansion took place on Monday.
