Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Though given by the choices made by the central leadership of BJP for CM candidates in all three states it won, anybody could be a minister, three front-runners have emerged from Indore one each from Kailash Vijayvargiya, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jyotiraditya Scindia camps.
While Vijayvargiya himself is unlikely to take any responsibility in Mohan Yadav’s cabinet, his protége and four-time MLA Ramesh Mendola, who won with the highest margin of votes in the state, may finally get ministerial position.
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Mendola is a minister-in-waiting since 2013 but his proximity with Vijayvargiya could not fetch him the position as other factions in the BJP stood against the senior BJP leader. But as Vijayvargiya has not been given any big responsibility in the state so far, Mendola could get ministerial position this time.
Another person who is in the race for ministerial post is Tulsiram Silawat, a lieutenant of civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who along with loyalist legislators had crossed over from Congress to BJP in 2020 resulting in the fall of the Kamal Nath government.
Silawat was in the last cabinet also and his chances of getting ministerial position are almost certain. Hardia, who is considered a confidante of Chouhan, could also be accommodated in the new cabinet. He was previously minister of state for health from 2008 to 2013.
Names of Usha Thakur, who was cultural and tourism minister in the previous cabinet and former mayor Malini Gaud are also doing the rounds. Both of them are four-time MLAs. While Yadav is going to be sworn-in as Chief Minister on Wednesday, none of these or other MLAs in Indore had received phone calls for taking oath as minister till filing of this report.
