Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot met Rahul Gandhi and others to deliberate upon the Rajasthan cabinet (FILE)
As many as 23 newly elected legislators-- 22 of the Congress and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal-- are expected to take oath as ministers in the Rajasthan cabinet formation today.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who took oath on December 17, returned to Jaipur on Sunday afternoon after spending three days in New Delhi for a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leaders.
The names of council of ministers have been finalised by Rajasthan Congress leaders including Mr Gehlot and Mr Pilot after rounds of discussions with Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders, sources said.
The swearing in ceremony is expected to be held in Jaipur at 11.30 am, they said.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan, Avinash Pandey, and Congress observer for the state on government formation, KC Venugopal, besides AICC secretaries for Rajasthan were also involved in the deliberations to decide on the ministers, the sources said.
Rahul Gandhi intends to focus on having a cabinet with a majority being fresh faces, sources said, adding the cabinet will be a blend of the old and new. The cabinet will reportedly give an opportunity to those who have not held ministerial portfolios in the past.
They said over a dozen of them will be seen in tomorrow's cabinet expansion.
Meanwhile, Mr Gehlot has so far initiated a few transfers of officials with the likelihood of a thorough reshuffle of bureaucrats after the cabinet formation.
Those who are likely to take oath are BD Kalla, Raghu Sharma, Shanti Dhariwal, Lal Chand Kataria, Pramod Jain Bhaya, Parsadi Lal Meena, Vishvendra Singh, Harish choudhary, Ramesh Chand Meena, Bhanwar Lal Meghwal, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Udai Lal Anjana, Saleh Mohammad and Govind Singh Dotasara.
Mamta Bhupesh, Arjun Singh Bamaniya, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandna, Tikaram Jully, Bhajanlal Jatav, Rajendra Singh Yadav and RLD's Subhash Garg are also likely to take oath, a Congress leader said.
Rajasthan can have a total of 30 ministers including the chief minister. The CM Gehlot-led cabinet will have a few vacancies left which will be filled later.