Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress MLA from Kherwara, Dayaram Parmar on Sunday expressed his disappointment following the Cabinet reshuffle stating that special qualifications are needed to become a minister.
In a letter translated from Hindi, he said, "It seems some special qualifications are needed to become a minister. Please tell me what are those qualifications so that I can acquire them in order to become a minister in the future."
Further, Senior Congress leader Johari Lal Meena on Sunday accused newly appointed Rajasthan minister Tikaram Juli of being a "corrupt man" and demanded his removal from the cabinet, but Juli dismissed the charges as baseless and demanded proof.
Meena said, "In our district Alwar, it is well known that Tikaram Juli is a corrupt man and that his family is involved in the collection of illegal funds. I asked the party leadership to remove him but instead, he has been made a minister. I am against it."
He added that it is a black day for the Alwar district and if necessary, he would resign from the party.
In response, Juli said, "Johari Lal Meena is a senior leader of the party. I respect him but his allegations are baseless. He should come out with proof, if he has any, to back his allegations."
Read: Rajasthan Cabinet expanded: 15 ministers sworn in
Also, Congress MLA from Rajasthan's Ramgarh Shafia Zubair on Sunday expressed her disappointment over the Rajasthan Cabinet reshuffle and said that those with a bad reputation have been promoted, adding that the Cabinet's structure could have been better.
"The Cabinet's structure could have been better. Those with a bad reputation have been promoted. Overall, Cabinet is not sending a good message. Women MLAs didn't get 33 per cent reservation in the Cabinet," Zubair said.
Firstly, among those MLAs to express their disapproval has been Brijendra Singh Ola. In fact, Ola's displeasure is that despite being a three-time MLA, he was made a minister of state, whereas two-time MLAs have been given the post of cabinet ministers.
Also, five MLAs who joined Congress from BSP also expressed their displeasure as they are angry with BSP MLA Rajendra Singh Gudha being made a minister.
It may also be mentioned that post the demise of Master Bhanwarlal Meghwal, not a single cabinet minister was chosen from the Dalit class of the state. Even though Meghwal was made minister of state, speculations of him not being made cabinet minister often came to the fore. Hence, Mamta Bhupesh, Bhajan Lal Jatav, Govind Ram Meghwal and Tikaram Julie were made cabinet ministers.
Read: Ashok Gehlot urges new ministers to keep their doors open for people, eyes 2023 polls
In a much-awaited Rajasthan cabinet reshuffle, as many as 15 ministers-- 11 of cabinet rank and four ministers of state-- were inducted into Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's cabinet on Sunday afternoon. The ministers were administered the oath of office by Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra.
Since the 1998 Assembly elections in Rajasthan, the Congress and BJP have ruled alternately.
While the Congress won in the 1998, 2008 and 2018 Assembly elections, the BJP came to power in 2003 and 2013.
It is the third tenure of Ashok Gehlot as the state chief minister. He earlier became the CM from 1998-2003 and 2008-2013, whereas BJP's Vasundhara Raje was the chief minister of Rajasthan twice from 2003-2008 and 2013-18
Meanwhile, six MLAs have been appointed as advisors to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot by the Rajasthan Government.
They are - Jitendra Singh, Babulal Nagar, Rajkumar Sharma, Sanyam Lodha, Ramkesh Meena and Danish Abrar.
