Portfolios allocated to ministers in Haryana; CM Saini keeps Home, Finance, Excise & Taxation

Three days after the new government was sworn in, portfolios were allocated to the newly constituted Council of Ministers under Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. As per a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, the Haryana Chief Minister kept key departments, including Home and Finance and Excise and Taxation, while seven-time legislator and the senior-most legislator in the Cabinet Anil Vij has been allocated Energy, Transport and Labour departments. He was the Home and Health & Family Welfare Minister under former Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Saini will handle 12 portfolios. Besides Home and Finance, he is also in charge of Planning, Excise and Taxation, Town and Country Planning and Urban Estates, Information, Public Relations, Language and Culture, Criminal Investigation, Law and Legislative, and Housing for All Departments. Any other department not allotted to any other minister will also be held by the CM. Saini, the BJP' s OBC face and Ladwa MLA, is a three-time MLA. He defeated Congress' sitting MLA Mewa Singh from Ladwa. He was sworn in the CM for a second time on October 17 after BJP's hat-trick in Haryana.

Shruti Choudhry, a former MP from Bhiwani-Mahendergarh and a first-time MLA has been made Women & Child Development and Irrigation & Water Resources minister. Daughter of senior leader Kiran Choudhry and granddaughter of late chief minister Bansi Lal, she, along with her mother, quit the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the Assembly elections.

Ateli MLA and daughter of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh, Arti Rao, will be the new Health Minister and will also look after Medical Education and Research and Ayush Department. A national-level shooter, Arti made her electoral debut in 2024 Assembly polls and represents Ahirwal region in the ministry.

Rao Narbir Singh, is the new Industries & Commerce Minister. He will also handle the portfolios of Environment, Forests and Wildlife, Foreign Cooperation and Sainik & Ardh Sainik Welfare. A four-time MLA and an Ahir leader, has the distinction of being a minister each he has been elected to the Vidhan Sabha. The only minister from Gurugram, he belongs to the opposite camp of Gurgaon MP and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Rao Inderjit Singh.

Mahipal Dhanda has been given the responsibility of the School, Higher Education, Archives and Parliamentary Affairs Departments. Dhanda, the Panipat- Rural MLA and the Jat face of the BJP, is the third- time MLA, winning from Panipat- Rural segment since 2014. He was one of the two ministers who won the assembly poll.

Vipul Goel, former Industries minister in the first term of the BJP government (2014-19), contested the Assembly election only twice and has been minister both times. In the 2019 election, the party denied him a ticket only to rely on him in this election. Goel, representing Faridabad, had serious differences with the local MP and Union Minister of state Krishan Pal Gujjar in his previous term. These have since then been resolved. He is the new Revenue & Disaster Management, Urban Local Bodies, Civil Aviation minister.

Arvind Sharma, a four-time MP and one-time MLA, Sharma has been allocated Cooperation, Jails, Elections, Heritage, and Tourism departments. He became prominent when he defeated Deepender Hooda in 2019 from Rohtak parliamentary constituency. A Brahmin face of the BJP, he has also contested elections from Congress and BSP tickets in the past. He has been a Khattar-baiter and demanded that a Brahmin should be a CM in 2022.

Shyam Singh Rana, Radaur MLA and Rajput face will be the Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Animal Husbandry and Dairying. He is a second-time MLA and grassroots leader from the GT Road belt.

Former Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Legislative Assembly, Ranbir Gangwa, has been allocated Public Health Engineering and Public Works (Roads and Bridges). BJP’s strategy to shift Gangwa from his old Nalwa segment to the Barwala segment paid off as the party won both seats. Gangwa, who belongs to the OBC community, had represented the Nalwa segment twice– in 2019 (as a BJP candidate) and in 2014 as an INLD candidate.

Krishan Kumar Bedi, Narwana MLA and Dalit Face, will look after the Social Justice and Empowerment and Antyodaya( SEWA), Architecture and Hospitality Departments. Bedi, a loyalist of former CM Manohar Lal Khattar, has been elected MLA for the second time. He took charge of his office in the presence of the Chief Minister at the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on Monday.

A prominent Dalit face of the BJP, Krishan Lal Panwar, has been allocated the Development and Panchayat and Mines and Geology departments. After getting elected from Israna, he had recently resigned from the Rajya Sabha. A six-time MLA and being close to Khattar, Panwar hails from other Scheduled Caste groups.

 Rajesh Nagar, Minister of State, has been allocated Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, and Printing and Stationary departments. He will be having an independent charge of both of them. A two-time MLA from Tigaon, Nagar hails from the OBC community.

Gaurav Gautam is a first-time MLA from Palwal. A Brahmin face of BJP, he came to prominence as he defeated Congress veteran Karan Dalal, a relative of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, by a margin of 33,605 votes. Dalal had represented the constituency five times in the past. He has been allocated Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship and Sports departments as an Independent charge. He will also handle the Law and Legislative department.

Double engine govt will ensure development in Haryana: CM

Talking to media persons, the Chief Minister expressed gratitude to the people of Haryana for giving majority to the BJP for the third time. He said that the double engine government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take the state forward in development. Departments have been allocated to all the ministers in Haryana. He said, “We will live up to the expectations with which the people of Haryana gave majority to the BJP by working hard. He said all the MLAs will be sworn in on October 25.”  Responding to questions, Saini said it is unfortunate that the Congress is creating obstacles in giving jobs to the youth on merit. The ‘stop-recruitment gang’ is sponsored by the Congress. The people have rejected the Congress and this gang, he said.