MP Cabinet Expansion: Lion's share of cabinet berths for Scindia loyalists leads to anger among BJP leadership?

MP Cabinet Expansion: Lion's share of cabinet berths for Scindia loyalists leads to anger among BJP leadership?

FP News ServiceUpdated: Friday, July 03, 2020, 02:39 PM IST
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BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia addresses party workers during a program, at BJP State headquarters, in Bhopal on Thursday. | ANI

The fire of anger among senior leaders of the BJP has begun to crackle and spat sparks after the expansion of cabinet on Thursday. The BJP refuses to admit it, but it has saddled with a horrible bargain. With 14 non-MLAs bagging ministerial berths, the 33-member BJP ministry in Madhya Pradesh has the look of Jyotiradiya Scindia's team with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the "caretaker Chief Minister".

Rumors aired that Shivraj's ideation of 'Shiv drinking the poison', few days prior to the cabinet expansion, was his indication for exclusion and sacrifice of many senior faces of the party. Needless to mentions, a few days before the cabinet expansion, Shivraj took to twitter and said that whenever there is the churning of the ocean only amrit (elixir) comes out and it is always Lord Shiva who drinks the poison.

In the process, the BJP leadership has created many dissidents. Former Chief Minister Uma Bharti was also seen disappointed and said that caste equation had gone haywire, and her suggestions were ignored. She said she had written to party vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and state unit President VD Sharma about the lack of regional and caste balance in the team.

Questions have also been raised on the ignorance of BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is seen as Home Minister Amit Shah's point person in MP. His protege Ramesh Maindola has been left out while Usha Thakur from the camp opposed to him is in. Thakur is also seen as a Rajnath Singh loyalist.

Narottam Mishra who is being promoted as a counter power centre against Chouhan has been denied the Deputy Chief Minister's berth, apparently because Scindia was insisting on Tulsi Silawat to be made a Deputy CM too. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar who has no love lost for Scindia is not pleased with the team either.

Chouhan failed to give way to senior loyalists Rampal Singh, Rajendra Shukla, Gaurishanker Bisen and Sanjay Pathak. Scindia, who plotted the fall of the Kamal Nath-led government to facilitate the return of the BJP to power just after a 15-month gap, now has 14 ex-MLAs in the ministry. The BJP leadership claims it has tried to take the party forward with a judicious mixture of youth and experience.

Some BJP leaders feel Scindia would drive the Chouhan government from the back seat. "After some days, Scindia will become MP Chief Minister," a senior BJP MLA close to Chouhan, said sarcastically.

But as the BJP owes Scindia its new innings, it is not surprising to see him doing the same.

Dr Keshav Pandey, a Scindia loyalist says it was only expected that there would be more ministers from Gwalior-Chambal region as 16 out of 24 assembly seats going to by-elections are from this region. Seven from Scindia's camp and three BJP MLAs --Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Arvind Bhandoria, and Bharat Singh Kushwaha -- have been made ministers from the region, he said.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath said never did the state have a ministry where 14 of 33 members are non-MLAs. "This is distortion of constitutional provisions and a cruel joke on the electorate," he said, adding that he was "personally very sad to not to find many qualified, experienced, loyal BJP in the cabinet".

Congress Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha said: "I congratulate team BJP and former Congress colleagues for becoming ministers. Can't offer them best wishes though. People who achieve power by unethical means will never receive my best wishes. This is not an elected government but a manufactured one".

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