Chandigarh, July 3 – Newly elected MLA from Ludhiana West constituency Sanjeev Arora has been inducted as a new minister in the Punjab Cabinet while Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has been dismissed from the Punjab Cabinet. Arora took oath as the new Cabinet Minister during a brief ceremony at Punjab Raj Bhawan. He has been given the Industries and NRI Affairs departments.
It has been learnt that before the reshuffle in the Punjab Cabinet, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had called Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal to his residence today and asked him to resign. Dhaliwal submitted his written resignation from his post to the Chief Minister on the spot. 
Earlier, the Agriculture and Panchayat departments were also withdrawn from Dhaliwal. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann assured Dhaliwal on this occasion that he would be given a new responsibility soon.
Governor Gulab Chand Kataria administered the oath of office to Arora during a brief ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Arora has been given the Industries and NRI Affairs portfolio in the Punjab Cabinet. The NRI portfolio was earlier with Kuldeep Dhaliwal. Similarly, the Industries portfolio was earlier with Tarunpreet Singh Saund, who will continue to hold the charge of the Rural Development, Labour and Tourism portfolios. 
With Dhaliwal's resignation, the total number of ministers in the Bhagwant Mann cabinet has come down to 16. Two posts are still vacant in the cabinet. The oath-taking ceremony lasted for about six minutes. It was almost certain that he would join the cabinet after he was elected as an MLA last week. 
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had announced Arora's appointment as a minister during the by-election campaign, while Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had also confirmed last week that he was bringing Arora into his cabinet. The cabinet has been expanded for the seventh time during the three-year tenure of the Aam Aadmi Party government.
Sanjeev Arora, who came in a yellow kurta pyjama, took the oath in Punjabi.
The swearing-in ceremony was conducted by Chief Secretary, Punjab, K.A.P. Sinha. The ceremony began with the national anthem, after which the Governor administered the oath to the new minister. The ceremony ended with the rendition of the national anthem. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, his wife Gurpreet Kaur Mann and many other ministers and dignitaries were present at the oath-taking ceremony.