On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann extended his cabinet by appointing five AAP MLAs as ministers.
After AAP took control of the state during the Assembly elections earlier this year, it was the Mann-led government’s first cabinet expansion.
The oath of office and secrecy was given to the MLAs on Monday night at Guru Nanak Dev Auditorium of Punjab Raj Bhawan in this city by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
Aman Arora, a two-term Sunam MLA, was the only other incumbent member among the other four.
The first person to take the oath was Mr. Arora, followed by Dr. Inderbir Singh Nijjar, an MLA for the Amritsar South constituency.
Anmol Gagan Mann, a lawmaker from Kharar, Fauja Singh Sarari, a representative for Guru Har Sahai, and Chetan Singh Jourmajra, an MLA from Samana, were then sworn in as cabinet ministers. The second female cabinet minister in the Mann-led government is Anmol Gagan Mann.
They all took the Punjabi oath.
Four MLAs from the Malwa area and one from the Majha region are among the five fresh faces.
The Mann-led government will have 15 members total, including the chief minister, after adding five additional ministers.
Ten MLAs, including eight first-timers, were appointed ministers in March following the AAP’s stunning victory in the assembly elections, which enabled it to establish the government.
However, in May, Vijay Singla, the state cabinet’s minister of health, was removed due to allegations of corruption, bringing the total number of ministers to nine.
The chief minister is one of the 18 posts in the government. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party won 92 out of a possible 117 seats, bringing it to power.
