By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 20 Mar: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh has finally expanded his cabinet after a gap of four years by filling all the vacancies.
Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) administered the oath of office and secrecy to all the five newly inducted ministers at a simple ceremony held at the Lok Bhawan, here, today.
MLAs Madan Kaushik, Pradeep Batra, Bharat Singh Chaudhary, Ram Singh Kaira and Khajan Das were administered the oath of office and secrecy. The oath ceremony was conducted by Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan in the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. All the five ministers have been appointed to the rank of cabinet ministers. There is no minister of state in Dhami’s Council of Ministers.
It may be reminded here that, ever since Pushkar Singh Dhami took over as the Chief Minister after the assembly elections in 2022, vacancies have existed in the Council of Ministers. The number of vacancies however rose from three to five during these years due to the untimely demise of Minister Chandan Ram Das and later resignation of Minister Prem Chand Aggarwal. All along it was speculated within media circles and fuelled also by BJP leadership that the cabinet would soon be expanded. This moment finally arrived today when all the vacancies were filled up.
Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) administered the oath to Khajan Das, Madan Kaushik, Bharat Singh Chaudhary, Pradeep Batra and Ram Singh Kaira, formally inducting them into the Council of Ministers of the Uttarakhand Government.
On this occasion, several dignitaries were present including former Governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, cabinet ministers Subodh Uniyal, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi and Saurabh Bahuguna, in addition to MPs Mahendra Bhatt and Naresh Bansal, besides a large number of other dignitaries. The occasion for expansion was chosen on the second day of Chaitra Navatratri. The BJP has claimed that the move is aimed at balancing regional and caste equations and is in line with the upcoming political challenges including the assembly elections now due in less than a year.
The expansion fills five vacant ministerial berths in the Dhami Cabinet, which had remained unoccupied for a considerable period. Speculation regarding the filling of these posts had been ongoing for a long time, with several legislators awaiting an opportunity to be inducted into the ministry. After nearly four years of anticipation, five BJP MLAs have now been elevated to ministerial positions during the Navratri period in 2026.
It may be noted here that among those inducted, Bharat Singh Chaudhary represents the Rudraprayag Assembly constituency, while Khajan Das is the MLA from the Rajpur constituency in Dehradun. Pradeep Batra, represents Roorkee in Haridwar district, and Madan Kaushik is from Haridwar. Ram Singh Kaira, MLA from Bhimtal constituency in Nainital district, completes the list of new inductees. It may also be reminded that Kaushik has become a cabinet minister for the fourth time while Khajan Das has become minister for the second time with the rest joining the council of ministers for the first time.
With the Uttarakhand Assembly elections scheduled for 2027, the cabinet expansion is widely seen as a strategic step aimed at strengthening political positioning by ensuring regional representation and caste balance. The BJP leadership has also claimed that the performance of the MLAs over the past four years was taken into consideration, and those with strong records were chosen for ministerial responsibilities.
Soon after the ministers were sworn over, they later individually made courtesy calls on Chief Minister Dhami to express their gratitude.
