Sunday, 07 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
BJP state president had stated that the Dhami cabinet could be expanded soon
The speculations on impending expansion of the cabinet have been temporarily put to rest by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The speculations were triggered by a statement of the Bharatiya Janata Party State president Mahendra Bhatt in which he had claimed that the cabinet expansion can take place after May 15. However, in an interview given to a newspaper on Friday night, the CM said that the cabinet expansion would be done after the assembly by election of Bageshwar. He however hinted that the process of distribution of responsibilities in different corporations, bodies and commissions would be done after the Karnataka elections.
On Friday Bhatt had fuelled speculations when he said that the CM has already held talks with the State in-charge Dhushyant Kumar Gautam in this regard. He opined that the much awaited expansion of the Dhami cabinet can take place after May 15.
Three positions in the cabinet have been vacant ever since Dhami took over the CM in his second stint in March last year. After the recent death of minister Chandan Ram Dass, the number of vacancies in the cabinet have increased to four now. At present there are only two ministers (Rekha Arya and Saurabh Bahuguna) from the Kumaon region in the cabinet. Similarly as many as seven districts including Haridwar and Nainital are not represented in the cabinet, At present Pauri (Satpal Maharaj and Dhan Singh Rawat) and Dehradun ( Prem Chand Agarwal and Ganesh Joshi) are represented by two ministers each while Champawat is represented by CM Dhami, Udham Singh Nagar by Saurabh Bahuguna, Tehri by Subodh Uniyal and Almora by Rekha Arya in the cabinet.
The political observers opine that the central leadership of BJP would take a final decision on the cabinet expansion, its timing and its composition. The appointment of the position holders would also be done after the green signal by the party high command.
