BHOPAL :
Having almost weathered the storm over the Vyapam scam and the deaths linked therewith, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is contemplating cabinet expansion.
Chauhan may go in for first expansion of cabinet soon. Chauhan has already discussed the issue with State President Nandkumar Singh Chauhan and Organisational General Secretary Arvind Menon. During his recent Delhi tour, he held discussions with senior party leaders on the issue. Earlier, he had a discussion with Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar over cabinet expansion. BJP National President Amit Shah will be arriving in the city on July 13 to attend a meeting related to ‘Mahajansampark Abhiyaan’. Final decision would be taken after discussing the matter with Shah.
With Kailash Vijayvargiya resigning from the cabinet, a vacancy has been created. BJP high command has already given free hand to Chauhan to go for cabinet expansion. Chauhan intends to reward MLAs who have been waiting for ministerial berth for a long time. When the cabinet was formed, some MLAs were not included in it as their role in Vyapam scam was under scanner. A decision in this regard would also be taken this time.
According to sources, some ministers may be dropped although Shah is going to take a final decision in this matter. The inclusion of MLAs namely Archana Chitnis, Jaibhaan Singh Pavaiya, Vishwas Sarang, Mahendra Hardia, Usha Thakur, Omprakash Sacklecha, Girish Gautam and Nagar Singh Chauhan is under consideration. Chauhan gave a hint that cabinet expansion was on the cards by keeping the Department of Urban Administration and Development with him after Vijayvargiya resignation.
Ever since the BJP came to power in the state for third time, the talk of cabinet expansion has being doing the rounds.
