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Chautala, 10 ministers take oath, in Kurukshetra

An 11-member Indian National Lok Dal ministry led by Om Parkash Chautala was today sworn in at the historical town of Kurukshetra.

Governor Mahabir Prasad administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chautala, five cabinet ministers and five ministers of state at the Dronacharya stadium.

Chautala, who assumed office for the record fifth time to become the 18th chief minister in the state, took the oath in Sanskrit.

Those sworn in as cabinet ministers were Sampat Singh, Dhir Pal Singh, Ashok Kumar Arora, Kartar Singh Bhadana and Jaswinder Singh Sandhu.

Those who took oath as ministers of state were Risal Singh, Subhash Chand Goyal, Mohamad Illyas, M L Ranga and Bahadur Singh.

While Sampat Singh, Dhir Pal Singh and Bhadana were cabinet ministers in the outgoing Chautala ministry, Jaswinder Singh was a chief parliamentary secretary who resigned on the eve of assembly polls. Arora, who was Vidhan Sabha speaker, quit his office yesterday to become minister.

Barring Illyas, the other four ministers of state have become ministers for the first time.

A huge dais for the swearing-in ceremony was specially erected at the stadium to accommodate a large number of VVIPs invited for the occasion.

Prominent among those present were octogenarian INLD patriarch and former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Union ministers P R Kumaramangalam, Subhash Meheria, T R Balu and I D Swamy, Minorities Commission vice-chairman Tarlochan Singh and former Delhi chief ministers Madanlal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma and state BJP unit president O P Grover.

Chautala has become the second chief minister to take oath in Kurukshetra after the state was formed in November 1966. B D Gupta was the first to take oath, in November 1975.

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