Chandigarh, July 4: The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is going to expand its cabinet for the first time today. The oath-taking ceremony of the new Ministers will be held at Raj Bhawan at 5 pm today.

Meanwhile, the discussions on the names of the new Ministers and which new faces will join the Bhagwant Mann government are in full swing. Last week, CM Bhagwant Mann visited Delhi to meet the party high command Arvind Kejriwal. Sources said during this meeting, there was a discussion about the cabinet expansion of Punjab and the names of the possible ministers were also mentioned. Punjab CM Swearing-In: Thousands Head for Bhagwant Mann’s Oath Ceremony Donning Traditional ‘Basanti’ Turbans.

However, on being asked by the ANI about the meeting of the two, Bhagwant Mann said that "there was no discussion about cabinet expansion in the meeting with Arvind Kejriwal, we will decide on it in Punjab".

After this meeting on Friday, news came from Punjab on Saturday that the Bhagwant Mann government is going to expand the cabinet. This cabinet expansion is going to happen at a time when AAP has lost the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-election recently and civic elections are also to be held in Punjab in the coming times.

In such a situation, it is believed that in this cabinet expansion, efforts will also be made to harmonize accordingly. According to sources, Dwaba and Majha regions can also be represented in this cabinet expansion, because most of the Ministers in the current cabinet of the Bhagwant Mann government are from the Malwa region.

Sources said a total of 5 to 6 new ministers, including a woman MLA, are likely to take oath on Monday. At present, Dr Baljit Kaur is the only woman minister in the Bhagwant Mann government. Jeevanjot Kaur from Amritsar East and Sarvjit Kaur Manuke from Jagrao are among the names that are surfacing for the new female face.

According to sources, the name of Aman Arora, MLA from Sunam, is in the forefront of the names that are being discussed. It is also believed that the portfolios of some ministers can also be changed.

Further, the names of Amritsar South MLA Inderbir Singh Nijjar, Fauja Singh Sarari, MLA from Guru Har Sahai, Samana MLA Chetan Singh Joramajra are also humming around.

After winning the assembly elections, apart from CM Bhagwant Mann, a total of 10 ministers were made in Punjab. After the removal of Health Minister Vijay Singla in the corruption case, there are a total of 9 ministers in the cabinet. If 5 more ministers are made, then the total number of ministers including the chief minister will become 15.

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