Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mr. Virbhadra Singh today inducted one more minister in his cabinet increasing the number of minister to 12 in the two years and eight month old Congress government as Banajar legislator Mr. Karan Singh administrated oath of office and secrecy in an induction ceremony held at Rajbhavan this morning.
Himachal Pradesh Governor Mr. Acharya Devrat administered oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Karan Singh as cabinet minister this morning at 0900 hrs. He would hold the charge of Cooperative and Ayush (Ayurveda) department.
Speaker of State Legislative assembly Mr. Brij Behari Butail, Himahcal Pradesh Chief Minister, Irrigation and public health minister Ms. Vidya Stokes, Health and Revenue Minister Mr. Kaul Singh Thakur, Social justice minister Dhani Ram Shandil, Transport Minister Mr. G.S. Bali, Urban Development Minister Mr. Suhir Sharma, Panchayati Raj Minster Mr. Anil Sharma and other member of state cabinet were present on this occasion.
The 58-year old third time MLA from Banjar in Kullu district, Karan Singh has served as minister for primary education in the previous Prem Kumar Dhumal government between1998 to 2003. After being denied ticket in 2007 assembly polls by the BJP, Karan Singh switched over to the BSP to contest the elections but lost to BJP’s Khimi Ram. Later in 2014, he joined the Congress before the Lok Sabha polls.
After the Congress victory in 2012 assembly polls, Virbhadra Singh proposed his name for cabinet ministers’ list. But he could not be inducted due to the party’s internal politics and his name was dropped at the last minute.
Mohan Verma is a seasoned journalist, with more than a decade of experience of active reporting for news agencies and fast paced online media.
