Newly-inducted ministers Rustam Singh and Om Prakash Dhurve pose at Raj Bhavan on Thursday.
BHOPAL : In the recent past, Chouhan, on the issue of reservation in promotions had shown his commitment towards scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SCs and STs) but in the first expansion of the ministry in his third term, only one minister belonging to ST category – Ompprakash Dhurvey – was inducted. Surprisingly, none of the new ministers comes from the SC community.
As far as regional political equations are concerned, Malwa region was ignored totally in cabinet expansion. Not giving any representation to Indore and Ujjain divisions may cost dear to the party in the coming time. Both these divisions played key role in bringing BJP in power in 2013.
L-R- Newly-inducted MoS Sanjay Pathak and Vishwas Sarang at Raj Bhavan on Thursday. |
Currently, only Paras Jain represents Malwa region in cabinet.
Despite presence of stalwarts like Kailash Vijayvargiya, Vikram Verma and Sumitra Mahajan, no representation was given to Malwa in the cabinet expansion. Appointing Sanjay Pathak as minister at the last minute, despite opposition from RSS, was a
surprising move. Sources said a religious leader and pressure from a Delhi-based leader helped Pathak in getting ministerial berth.
