Rajasthan cabinet reshuffle: Will CM Ashok Gehlot placate disappointed MLAs?

The new names included in the council of ministers in Rajasthan were announced on Saturday. Accommodating MLAs loyal to both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, the new faces have been decided as part of an effort to broker a truce between the warring factions within the state Congress.

How many new ministers are from the Pilot and Gehlot factions?

As many as five of the 15 newly-announced names are loyalists of Sachin Pilot. Hemaram Choudhary, Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena, Brijendra Singh Ola and Murari Lal Meena figure in the list. Ola and Murari Lal have been made state ministers while the other three will be cabinet ministers.

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All five were among the 18 loyalist MLAs who had supported Pilot during the political crisis in Rajasthan in 2020 and had camped with him in Haryana and Delhi over a month. Vishwendra Singh and Ramesh Meena were cabinet ministers previously as well and were removed from their post after they sided with Pilot during the political crisis.

While the entire council of ministers in Rajasthan had resigned before the cabinet reshuffle, Gehlot presented the resignations of only ministers Raghu Sharma, Govind Singh Dotasra and Harish Chaudhary to Governor Kalraj Mishra, which signals that apart from these three, all the other incumbent ministers will continue to be in office even though their portfolios may be changed.

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With the addition of the 15 new members into the existing pool of ministerial faces, Rajasthan will now have 30 members in its council of ministers including Chief Minister Gehlot. Since there were nine vacancies in the council of ministers, the appointment of the new ministers is also expected to reduce the number of portfolios being handled by individual ministers.