The much-awaited Madhya Pradesh’s Cabinet expansion finally happened on Thurshday. After being functional for almost 100 days without a brimming cabinet, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government finally attained its full cabinet by inducing 28 new members, including 16 BJP legislator and 12 former Congress legislator.
Needless to mention, the Kamal Nath Governent was toppled in the state in March after rebellion of Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 other Congress MLAs. Their sudden shift to the saffron party not only brought down the Nath governemnt but left a unpreecendent midway by-polls.
After the shift, all eyes were on the Scindia camp getting ministerial berths. In the new cabinet, where 14 of the 22 Scindia loyalist got the berth, only about 19% of the BJP’s 107 MLAs made it into the cabinet. The cabinet including almost a dozen from Scindia camp now constitute 41% of the Shivraj Singh’s cabinet. When given a close look, 64% from the Scindia camp (14 of 22 rebel) own the throne now.
However, it was a tough task for Chouhan to balance between the newly turned saffron and the senior BJP leaders while forming the new cabinet. One side where speculations were on the peak of how many Scindia rebel loyalists will get the seat, many seniors, as well as other existing leaders of the BJP, were in hope of getting the throne this time. Preference meter was on a toss for Chouhan.
The Chouhan ministry on Thursday attained a strength of 34. The cabinet still has one vacancy as the ministry's strength, depending on the size of the House, should not exceed 35 as per constitutional norms.
Chouhan took oath as chief minister for a record fourth term on March 23, after Kamal Nath resigned from the post.
From the Scindia camp, 6 MLAs were a part of Kamal Nath government as well. These were Govind Singh Rajput, Tulsi Silavat, Pradyuman Singh Tomar, Imarti Devi, Prabhuram Chaudhary and Mahendra Singh Sisodia. All of them have now become cabinet ministers in Shivraj's government. Of these, Govind Singh Rajput and Tulsi Silavat were sworn in on Shivraj's mini cabinet on 21 April.
Apart from these, from 5 more leaders; Rajyavardhan Singh Dattigaon, Brijendra Singh Yadav, Girraj Dandotia, Surendra Dhakad and OPS Bhadauria, Rajyavardhan have become cabinet ministers. The remaining have been made ministers of state.
The remaining Scindia loyalists will contest for the by-elections to be held in 16 assembly seats in Gwalior-Chambal. Scindia has a strong hold in the region. Girraj Dandotia, Aindal Singh Kansana, Suresh Dhakad, OPS Bhadauria, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Imarti Devi, Pradyuman Singh Tomar, Bharat Singh Kushwaha have been made ministers from this region.
This is the first time when 3 ministers; Govind Singh Rajput, Gopal Bhargava and Bhupendra Singh are from the same district Sagar. All three are cabinet ministers now. For the first time, no minister has been formed from Jabalpur.
Ministers who retain their positions:
Gopal Bhargava
Yashodhara Raje
Jagdish Devda
Bhupendra Singh
Brijendra Pratap Singh
Vishwas Sarang
New Faces:
Prem Singh Patel
Omprakash Saklecha
Usha Thakur
Arvind Singh Bhadoriya
Mohan Yadav
Hardeep Singh Dang
Rajyavardhan Singh Dattigaon
Basahulal Singh
Aindal Singh Kansana
Bharat Singh Kushwaha
Inder Singh Parmar
Ramkhilawan Patel
Ramkishore Kanware
Scindia Loyalists who were part of Kamal Nath Cabinet as well:
Imarti Devi
Prabhuram Choudhary
Mahendra Singh Sisodiya
Padyuman Singh Tomar
Brijesh Singh Yadav
Giriraj Dandotiya
Surendra Dhakkad
OPS Bhadouriya
