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Updated: Nov 15, 2019 02:00 IST

There were several surprise inclusions and exclusions in the cabinet expansion by the Manohar Lal Khattar- Dushyant Chautala government in Haryana on Thursday.

The 10-MLAs who took oath of office included 8 from the BJP, one from the JJP and one independent, taking the number of ministers in the BJP- JJP coalition to 12. Haryana can have a maximum of 13 ministers, including the chief minister, as per the 15 % cap under Article 164 (1A) of the Constitution.

Not even a single minister inducted today was from the Vaish community. Four Jats, three from the backward classes, two from the scheduled castes, two Punjabis and one Brahmin minister, make up the cabinet.

Six MLAs - Anil Vij, Kanwar Pal, Mool Chand Sharma, JP Dalal and Banwari Lal ( all BJP) and Ranjit Singh (Independent) were given the status and rank of senior cabinet ministers, while the remaining four – OP Yadav, Kamlesh Dhanda, Sandeep Singh (all BJP) and Anoop Dhanak (JJP) were given the rank of ministers of state with independent charge.

Some senior MLAs from the BJP camp, namely, Kamal Gupta, Seema Trikha and Abhe Singh Yadav could not make it despite their seniority. JP Dalal from Loharu, Kamlesh Dhanda from Kalayat, former India hockey skipper Sandeep Singh from Pehowa were surprise inclusions along with Independent MLA from Rania, Ranjit Singh. Dalal, Sandeep and Ranjit, were the choices of BJP’s central high command, said sources.