BHOPAL : Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is going to expand his ministry on Thursday. The swearing in is scheduled for 5 pm at Raj Bhawan.
There are speculations that home minister Babulal Gaur and PWD minister Sartaj Singh may be asked to resign. The central leadership of the BJP is insisting on seeking resignations of these two leaders prior to the expansion of the ministry; though Chouhan is not in the favour of dropping them. The age of the two octogenarian leaders is said to have become a disqualification for them. A final decision on the fate of the ministers may be taken on Thursday morning.
At least 10 new ministers are likely to be sworn in. According to sources, Archana Chitnis, Jaibhaan Singh Pavaiya, Rustam Singh, Vishwas Sarang, Ramlal Rotel, Chandrabhan Singh, Omprakash Saklecha, Sudarshan Gupta, Lalita Yadav and Pradeep Lariya may be inducted in the ministry.
Chouhan met party leaders in Delhi on Wednesday. The probable names were discussed in a meeting held at BJP national president Amit Contd. on P4
Shah’s residence in the presence of BJP national general secretary Ramlal and state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. Shah gave his approval on almost all names. Chouhan also held discussions with Sahasrabudde, Narendra Singh Tomar and Sushma Swaraj on the issue.
A final decision on the names on which there are differences, will be taken late night on Wednesday. Chouhan also visited the RSS office in Delhi to discuss some names with Krishnagopal, who looks after coordination between BJP and RSS.
