BJP’s Kamal Gupta & JJP’s Devender Singh become ministers after Haryana cabinet expansion

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expanded his cabinet on Tuesday, the second one in the past two years, inducting an MLA each from his party BJP and ally Jannayak Janta Party.

BJP MLA from Hisar Kamal Gupta and JJP's Tohana MLA Devender Singh Babli were sworn in as ministers at Raj Bhavan.

With the induction of the two leaders into the Khattar cabinet, the strength of council of ministers has gone up to 14, including the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, which is the upper limit.

Earlier, there were 12 council of ministers in the state, including CM and his deputy -- six of cabinet rank and four ministers of state.

This is the second cabinet expansion of the BJP-JJP led coalition government in Haryana since coming to power in the state in 2019. 

In 2019, more than two weeks after taking oath as the Haryana Chief Minister, Khattar had first expanded his council of ministers in November that year by inducting 10 members - eight from BJP, one from JJP and one Independent.

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the Haryana elections in 2019, winning 40 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

The saffron party formed government in the state with the support of Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala-led JJP, which won 10 seats, and some independent MLAs.