Indore: With the fall of Congress-led Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, the commercial capital of the state—Indore—was hit the hardest. There were four cabinet ministers in the Nath government who came to Indore every Sunday, as a result of which the voice of people of Indore was heard in the state capital loud and clear.
Incidentally, this was the first time in the recent past that Indore was represented by four cabinet rank ministers. In the previous BJP government, there was not a single minister from Indore.
With the formation of Congress government in state, Jitu Patwari, Tulsi Silawat, Sajjan Singh Verma and Bala Bachchan were given charge of Sports and Youth Welfare Ministry, Health Ministry, PWD Ministry, and Home Ministry, respectively.
All of them were powerful ministries in their own right and the city had become the second centre of power in the state after Bhopal due to the availability of ministers at least for every Sunday.
Indore had become the centre for taking decision about health, PWD, sports and home department across the state and the ministers also tried to keep Indore first in terms of any new initiative or development.
Now, it is the matter of time whether the new government will give such preference to Indore in the cabinet or not.
Ministers from Indore in Congress government
Jitu Patwari: He is MLA from Rau constituency of Indore and was serving as Higher Education Minister and Sports and Youth Welfare Minister. He acted as the trouble shooter for the Nath government on several occasions.
Tulsi Silawat: He was MLA from Sanver but resigned from the assembly in support of Jyotiraditya Scindia. He had the charge of Health Ministry, and doctors and people of Indore had easy access to him.
Sajjan Singh Verma: Although he is MLA from Sonkatch but he lives in Indore and kept Indore in his priority list. He served as PWD Minister in Kamal Nath government. He is counted as one of the closest supporter of Kamal Nath and given his seniority, he had a lot of say in the government.
Bala Bachchan: He is MLA from Rajpur but lives in Indore. He had the most important ministry in Kamal Nath government i.e. Home Ministry. Being a tribal, he had special importance in the cabinet.
