 |
| Chamling takes oath of office. Picture by Ashit Rai |
| ALL THE CM’S MEN |
| Cabinet crew • Chief minister: Pawan Chamling • D. D. Bhutia, • G. M. Gurung • Hishey Lachungpa • K. N. Rai • P. S. Tamang • D. T. Lepcha • Ram Bahadur Subba • S. B. Subedi • Kalawati Subba • Menlom Lepcha (new) • Somnath Poudyal (new) Ministry apart |
Gangtok, May 21: The 12-member Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) cabinet, chaired by chief minister Pawan Chamling, was sworn in by Sikkim Governor V. Rama Rao at Raj Bhavan this afternoon.
Chamling, appointed chief minister for the third consecutive term, bettered the record set by his predecessor and arch foe Nar Bahadur Bhandari, who remained chief minister for 10 years.
The SDF had clinched 31 of the 32 Assembly seats in the state, getting a clear mandate to form the government.
Most of the members of Chamling’s earlier ministry were retained. Only three fresh faces were inducted.
Heading the list of ministers was former health minister D. D. Bhutia, Chamling’s deputy in the cabinet. G.M. Gurung, Hishey Lachungpa and K.N. Rai, the legislator from Jorethang who was the party’s chief whip in the previous term, were also retained.
Rai was the education minister in the first SDF government in 1994.
P.S. Tamang, who recorded the win with the highest margin from Chakung constituency in west Sikkim, D.T. Lepcha, Ram Bahadur Subba and S. B. Subedi also got cabinet berths.
Kalawati Subba, who officiated as Speaker of the last Assembly, was inducted as the lone woman member of the cabinet.
Two new faces in the ministry are Menlom Lepcha and Somnath Poudyal. Lepcha, a former legislator in 1994, was officiating as the political secretary to the chief minister before being given the party ticket this year.
Youth leader Somnath Poudyal, who beat the lone Opposition member and state Congress president Nar Bahadur Bhandari from Central Pendam, also found a place in the 12-member cabinet.
The portfolios of the 12 ministers have not been announced. Senior officials close to the chief minister revealed that it could take yet another day.
Speaking to newspersons after the ceremony, Chamling said the new government would now set out to fulfil the promises made in the SDF’s election manifesto.
“A number of economic reforms that the government had initiated in the last term remain incomplete and our priority is to fulfil them,” he said.
The chief minister also said the party would back the Congress government at the Centre. “Our policy has always been to support any government that comes to power at the Centre,” he said.
Immediately after the ceremony, the cabinet members went to the conference hall of the Tashiling secretariat for a brief sitting. Chamling also convened a meeting of the heads of government departments and senior officials.
A decision is yet to be taken as to who would be made the Speaker and deputy speaker of the Sikkim Assembly even as the name of D.N. Thakarpa, the new legislator from Tashiding in west Sikkim, was doing the rounds as the frontrunner for the post.
The post of deputy speaker could go to Mingma Sherpa.
