28.12.17

Jai Ram Takes Oath As 13th Himachal CM

With Seraj MLA Jai Ram Thakur taking oath as the 13th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh at the historic Ridge Maidan in Shimla, a new era has begun in the hill state’s politics. Thakur will be leading a pack of BJP’s second rung leadership with many of the senior leaders having lost their seat in the recently concluded election.

To witness the new government taking shape, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah and party patriarch L K Advani were present at the swearing-in along with Union ministers and chief ministers of BJP-controlled states. The ceremony saw a massive gathering of people as BJP supporters from different parts of Himachal Pradesh arrived in Shimla to witness their party coming back to power after five years.

Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to Thakur in Hindi amid a loud cheer from crowd. Eleven ministers were also administered oath. Sarveen Chaudhary from Shahpur assembly constituency was the only woman minister in the council. Suresh Bhardwaj and Govind Singh Thakur chose to break from tradition and took oath in Sanskrit. So far, oaths have been administered in either Hindi or English.

More than half the cabinet is made up of first-time ministers, including Suresh Bhardwaj, Vipin Singh Parmar, Birender Kanwar, Bikram Singh Jaswan, Govind Singh Thakur and Dr Rajiv Saizal.

No comments: