Sukhu may form Cabinet on Jan 7

Dharamshala: Much awaited Cabinet of two-member Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu government expansion in Himachal Pradesh is likely to happen on January 7.

Sukhu was sworn-in as Chief Minister of the newly elected Congress government along with Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on December 11.

Till now he could not form his cabinet even as aspirant MLAs have been lobbying hard and rival groups putting strenuous pressure on him for the past three weeks.

On Wednesday, the Chief Minister left for Delhi suddenly even as the three-day-long session of the state Assembly was underway at Dharamshala.

Sources close to him said the party high command had summoned him to Delhi to finalise the list and any further delay could prove embarrassing for the Congress despite it having returned to power on December 8 winning 40 seats against 25 of the BJP in the 68-member House.

He took a special flight to Delhi within a few hours after state Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had addressed the first session of the Assembly and underlined the new government’s commitments to providing a transparent, responsive, accountable and corruption-free government to the people of the state.

At Raj Bhawan officials said the Governor has deferred his travel plans to Goa to January 8. Earlier he was to leave on January 7.

The move is apparently linked to the formation of the Cabinet as he will be required to administer oaths to new ministers as thereafter he was not available in Shimla till January 17.

In Delhi, the Chief Minister will meet the Congress high command leaders. Some of the aspirant MLAs also left for the union capital by road to lobby for the cabinet berths. He had returned from Delhi on January 3 but it is learnt there was no consensus reached on the cabinet names.

Sources said PCC president Pratibha Singh, who was also a Chief Ministerial post contender, wants some of the MLAs from her group also considered for the Cabinet.