While the Chief Minister passed off the unruly scenes as over-enthusiasm of party workers, few were willing to excuse the youths, who even pounced on the snacks served on the occasion as the national anthem was being played.

They were shouting slogans in favour of Arif Aquil, whose inclusion in the Cabinet as a minister of state with independent charge was the most surprising of the day. He had been among those arrested for inciting the city's worst communal riots in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition exactly six years ago.

An Independent MLA then, Aquil had lost the 1993 election. But Digvijay had admitted him into the Congress and this time, reportedly overruling the high command's reservations, nominated him from the Muslim-dominated Bhopal Northconstituency. Today, Aquil even made it to the state Cabinet.

Besides him, there are 24 ministers holding cabinet rank in the new ministry and 13 ministers of state. Along with Aquil, one more minister of state holds independent charge. While many heavyweights, including Deputy Chief Minister Subhash Yadav, who were in the outgoing council of ministers have been kept out, several new faces have made it in. Arjun Singh's son, Ajay Singh Rahul, is among the new cabinet-rank ministers.

Among those sworn in today, 20 were also members of the outgoing Digvijay ministry. The portfolios of the ministers will be announced tomorrow. The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Governor Bhai Mahavir.

The trouble started when youths who had gathered around Raj Bhavan in large numbers and were shouting pro-Aquil slogans clashed with the police at the main gate. The police had to resort to mild lathicharge more than once to bring the situation under control. However, the men eventually made their way inthrough the exit gate, surprising the security guards posted there. Even during the swearing-in ceremony, they continued to chant slogans praising Aquil, jumped cordons, tumbled chairs and to top it, pounced on the snacks even as the national anthem was being played.

Talking to newspersons, Digvijay said his Cabinet had 10 OBC members, eight from the Scheduled Tribes, five from the Scheduled Castes and one each from the Muslim, Christian and Kayastha communities. The Chhattisgarh region accounts for 11 ministers.

The new Cabinet ministers are Jamuna Devi, Urmila Singh, Ajay Narayan Mushran, Ram Chandra Singh Deo, Mahendra Singh, Shravan Patel, Indrajit Patel, Narendra Nahta, Prem Sai Singh, Ratnesh Saloman, Ravindra Choubey, Vijaylaxmi Sadho, Satya Narayan Sharma, Subhash Sojatia, Ajay Singh, Chanesh Ram Rathia, Dhanesh Patila, Mahendra Bodh, Krishna Kumar Gupta, Deepak Saxena, Nand Kumar Patel, Likhiram Kawre, Sajjan Singh Verma and Hukum Singh Karada.

The ministers of state include Arif Aquil, DomenSingh Nagpure, Ganga Bai Ureti, Govind Singh, Teji Lal Saryam, Veer Singh Raghuvanshi, Shankar Sodhi, Raja Pateria and Bhupesh Baghgel.