Rajasthan ministers allocated portfolios; Gehlot keeps 9, including home and finance
Jaipur, Dec 27 : Newly inducted Rajasthan ministers have been allocated portfolios, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlok assigning nine departments, including the key finance and home, to himself.
According to the orders issued by the Cabinet Secretariat here, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has been given the charge of public works, rural development, panchayati raj, science and technology and statistics departments.
Apart from the chief minister and his deputy, 13 cabinet and 10 ministers of state were allocated portfolios by Governor Kalyan Singh late on Wednesday night on the advice of Gehlot.
The 23 ministers were sworn in on Monday, a week after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot took oath.
The allocation of portfolios were made after Gehlot and Pilot held meetings with Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The decision had been pending due to reported disagreement between Gehlot and Pilot over allocation of key portfolios such as home and finance.
Besides finance and home, the chief minister also kept the charge of excise, planning, personnel, general administration and information technology department, among others with himself.
B D Kalla has been given energy, public health engineering, ground water, art, culture and archeology departments, while Shanti Dhariwal was assigned urban development and housing, law and parliamentary affairs departments.
Parsadi Lal was named industry minister, and Master Bhanwar Lal Meghwal is in charge of social justice and empowerment department.
Agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries departments are with Lal Chand Kataria while medical and health, information and public relations departments are with Raghu Sharma. Pramod Bhaya is the mines minister.
Vishvendra Singh got tourism and devsthan department, Harish Chaudhary was allocated revenue, while Ramesh Chand Meena was given food and civil supply deaprtment.
Besides being made the cooperative minister, Anjana Udailal was also given the Indira Gandhi canal project department. Pratap Singh was given the charge of transport and soldier welfare departments while Shale Mohammad was made minority affairs and waqf minister.
The portfolios, which are yet to be allocated will remain with the chief minister for now.
Among the ministers of state, Govind Singh Dotasara was given education (independent charge), and was also given tourism and devsthan departments. Mamta Bhupesh was given women and child development department (independent charge) along with minority affairs and waqf.
Arjun Singh Bamnia was given tribal area development department (independent charge) as well as industry and pubic enterprises departments.
Bhanwar Singh Bhati was allocated higher education (independent charge) and revenue while Sukhram Bishnoi got forest (independent charge), environment (independent charge), food and civil supply and consumer affairs.
Youth affairs and sports (independent charge), skill development (independent charge) and transport and soldier welfare went to Ashok Chandna, while Tikaram Jully got labour (independent charge), industries and boilers inspection (independent charge), cooperatives and Indira Gandhi canal project department.
Bhajan Lal Jatav has civil defence (independent charge), agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries, Rajendra Singh Yadav was allocated state motor garage (independent charge), language department, social justice and empowerment, calamity management and relief departments.
RLD's Subhash Garg was allocated technical education (independent charge), Sanskrit education (independent charge), medical and health, information and public relations departments.
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Never sought bribe from Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son in drugs case: Sameer Wankhede
Mumbai (PTI): Former NCB Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede told the Bombay High Court on Monday that he never demanded or took a bribe from actor Shah Rukh Khan to spare his son Aryan Khan following the latter's arrest in a cruise drugs case.
Wankhede's counsel, Aabad Ponda, was arguing the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer's plea seeking to quash the FIR registered against him in May 2023 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of corruption and bribery.
Ponda told a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Suman Shyam that Wankhede never demanded or took a bribe from Shah Rukh Khan.
As per the CBI FIR, Wankhede and the other accused in the case allegedly demanded Rs 25 crore from the actor to give a clean chit to his son in the drugs case.
However, Ponda told the court on Monday that the CBI has no evidence to establish that Wankhede demanded or received any bribe.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had received a tip-off about alleged drugs on the cruise ship Cordelia. A search was conducted in accordance with the law and a few persons, including Aryan Khan, were arrested, the counsel added.
The high court said it would continue hearing the plea further on Tuesday.
The CBI had registered the case against Wankhede and others on charges of criminal conspiracy (Indian Penal Code section 120-B), and threat of extortion (388 IPC), as well as bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act on a complaint from the NCB.
Aryan Khan was arrested in the alleged drug bust case on the Cordelia cruise ship on October 2, 2021.
Later, the NCB filed a charge sheet in the case against 14 accused, but gave a clean chit to Aryan Khan.
The much-hyped case took a twist in 2021 when an 'independent witness' claimed that an NCB official and other persons, including a witness, demanded Rs 25 crore to let off Aryan Khan.
The NCB later conducted an internal vigilance probe against Wankhede and others and shared the contents with the CBI, leading to the registration of the case against him.
Based on the CBI's FIR, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a case against Wankhede, accusing him of money laundering.
