Senior BJP leader and party MLA from Ambala Cantt, Anil Vij, who was earlier dropped from the ministry, returned as a minister in the Nayab Singh Saini cabinet 2.0 in Haryana on Thursday.
Vij, who had declared himself as a claimant for the chief minister’s post in the assembly polls, took oath along with Arti Rao, daughter of Union minister Rao Inderjeet Singh.
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Interestingly, Singh had also expressed his desire to lead the northern state. There were also reports that he might rebel against Saini with the support of nine MLAs. He, however, dismissed the reports as false.
The other notable names who were sworn in as ministers in the new Haryana government under the leadership of Saini in Panchkula include Shruti Chaudhary, the daughter of Rajya Sabha member Kiran Chaudhary.
The mother-daughter duo had quit the Congress and joined the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections early this year.
Krishan Lal Panwar, a Scheduled Caste MLA from Israna in Panipat district; Rao Narbir Singh, an Ahir and backward class MLA from Badshahpur in Gurugram district; Mahipal Dhanda, a Jat MLA from Panipat (rural); and Vipul Goel from Faridabad, also took oath as cabinet ministers.
Additionally, other influential MLAs who took the oath included Arvind Kumar Sharma, Shyam Singh Rana, Ranbir Singh Gangwa, Rajesh Nagar, Gaurav Gautam and Krishan Bedi.
Earlier, Saini was sworn-in as Haryana chief minister for the second consecutive term in a grand ceremony held in Panchkula.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and other prominent leaders of the saffron party.
Chief ministers from BJP and NDA-ruled states, including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, also attended the swearing-in ceremony of the Haryana government.
