Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu appoints 6 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Sunday appointed six legislators as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) in his nine-member cabinet.

Simultaneously, he expanded his Cabinet, first since he took oath along with Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on December 11, by inducting seven legislators as ministers. Sukhu administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Chief Parliamentary Secretaries here. They were Sunder Singh Thakur, Mohan Lal Brakta, Ram Kumar Chaudhary, Ashish Butail, Kishori Lal and Sanjay Awasthi. Just a month-old Congress government in its first cabinet expansion on Sunday inducted seven ministers, a mix of first-timers and experienced, with the eldest being Col. Dhani Ram Shandil, 82, who is a three-time MLA and Member of Parliament each.

The youngest in the Cabinet is Vikramaditya Singh, 33, the son of six-time Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh. His mother and Member of Parliament Pratibha Singh was the frontrunner for the chief ministerial post.Governor Rajendra Arlekar administered the oath of office and secrecy here to seven ministers, all with Cabinet ranks. The other newly inducted ministers were six-time legislator Chander Kumar, 78, who was appointed as pro-tem Speaker, six-time legislator Harshwardhan Chauhan, four-time legislator Jagat Singh Negi, four-time legislator Rohit Thakur and three-time legislator Anirudh Singh.