Chandigarh: Nine new Cabinet ministers were sworn in at the Raj Bhavan here today as three Congress MLAs quit their party posts after being ignored in the first expansion of the year-old Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government.
Ministers of State Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana were also elevated as Cabinet ministers. Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore administered the oath of office to the new ministers.
Three legislators -- Sangat Singh Gilzian from Urmur assembly segment, Nathu Ram from Balluana and Surjit Singh Dhiman from Amargarh -- have resigned from their posts in the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.
Gilzian resigned yesterday when the names of the nine new ministers were announced after a meeting between Amarinder Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.
The two other resignations came in today, just hours before the swearing-in ceremony.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his cabinet colleagues and other senior party leaders, including Asha Kumari and Harish Chaudhary, were present during the ceremony.