Cabinet expansion being done aiming polls, not for welfare of communities: Congress

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New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government is preparing for the oath ceremony in which as many as 43 new ministers will be sworn in, the Congress party has called the move to expand the cabinet a distraction.

The party said that the move was being taken in view of polls and that is why many of the ministerial candidates belong to the backward castes.

“Several Dalits, backward caste members are being made ministers. They are doing it from the point of polls. This is being done to distract people,” Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was quoted as saying by ANI.

Kharge asserted that the expansion was not meant for the welfare of the communities.

“They are not doing this for the welfare of communities but because of their compulsion,” he said.

Meanwhile, the list of new cabinet ministers is out. Ahead of the oath ceremony, several ministers including Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal among others have resigned.