Shivraj Singh Chouhan inducts 2 new ministers in MP Cabinet

In the first expansion post state Assembly by-polls, held in November last year, two new ministers were inducted in Shivraj Singh Chouhan Cabinet on Sunday.

Tulsiram Silavat (66) and Govind Singh Rajput (67) were re-inducted days after they had to resign from the Cabinet in October last year since they had completed six months in their respective offices without becoming members of the state Assembly.

Silavat and Rajput, both loyalists of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia, won the by-polls on BJP tickets with impressive margins. While Silavat’s victory margin was more than 50,000 votes from Sanver Assembly constituency in Indore district, Rajput won Surkhi seat in Sagar district with a margin of more than 40,000 votes.

Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office and secrecy to the two ministers at Raj Bhavan premises on Sunday afternoon in the presence of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

With the induction of two ministers, Chouhan cabinet now has 31 ministers, including Chouhan and there are still four ministerial berths vacant. The 31 ministers include 24 cabinet ministers and 7 ministers of state.

Congress was prompt to attack the chief minister after the cabinet expansion.

State Congress media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “The cabinet expansion has proved once again that Shivraj Singh Chouhan is not a strong (majboot) but a hapless (majboor) chief minister, who inducted those imported in the BJP but left out more than 12 committed BJP leaders, who deserve to be in the Cabinet. He seems to be under tremendous pressure that despite having four vacant ministerial berths, he had to ignore the claim of several senior BJP leaders.”

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State BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai responded by saying that the Congress should first look inwards. “It would have been better if the Congress leaders would have spoken about the composition of the then Kamal Nath cabinet. Nath had neglected and insulted several MLAs who deserved to be in his cabinet. Insult to senior party leaders was one of the major reasons behind the resignation by 22 Congress MLAs, including six ministers from the state assembly and later their joining the BJP in March. The exodus didn’t stop there. Three more Congress MLAs resigned in July and joined the BJP. The fact is that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave respect to the deserving MLAs by inducting them in his cabinet,” Bajpai said.

The Chouhan government strengthened its majority in the 230-member state assembly by winning 19 of the 28 seats in the by-polls in November last year.

The BJP has 126 members in the assembly.

Earlier, Chouhan had expanded his cabinet on July 2, 2020 with 28 new ministers including 20 cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state. Twelve of the 28 ministers were ex-MLAs, who later contested the by-polls.

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