Himachal Cabinet expansion unlikely till New Year

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Shimla, December 23

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will most likely expand his Cabinet in New Year after holding a short winter session of the Assembly.

“The Chief Minister will return to Shimla from Delhi on December 25 after completing his quarantine. The Cabinet will be expanded immediately after the three-day winter session,” said Naresh Chauhan, principal adviser (media) to the CM.

While Chauhan did not specify any dates, the Cabinet expansion is expected to be done only in New Year as Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar would be out of the state till December 31.

Reiterating that the ball would be set rolling to fulfil the guarantees offered by the Congress immediately after the first Cabinet meeting, Chauhan slammed the BJP for being “impatient” and protesting the denotification of institutes and offices opened and upgraded by the BJP after April 2022. “More than 900 offices and institutions were opened or upgraded in the last six months without making any financial provisions and by overlooking rules. The decisions were taken with political considerations alone,” he said.

Chauhan claimed the Finance Department had objected to the decisions, noting that “the state did not have adequate financial resources to support these”. “Still, the government went ahead. These institutions would have put an additional burden of Rs 2,000 crore… The institutions found in public interest can be reopened after review,” he said.

Congress state president Pratibha Singh also attacked the BJP for raising unnecessary “hue and cry”. “The BJP is merely trying to garner public sympathy through protests,” she said.

BJP leader and former Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj alleged that the Sukhu regime had initiated its innings on a “negative note”. “The Congress is struggling to form its Cabinet, but is going overboard to denotify the pro-people orders of the BJP government,” he said.