Shivraj inducts five ministers in Cabinet expansion; MP gets a cabinet

Five BJP leaders on Tuesday took oath as cabinet ministers in the first expansion of the council of ministers in Madhya Pradesh under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The five, including a woman and two ex-MLAs, were sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at a simple function in the Raj Bhawan amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was present at the ceremony.

The state was without a cabinet for the last two months owing to the COVID-19 pandemic after Chouhan was sworn in as CM on March 23.

The five inducted ministers include BJP leaders Narottam Mishra, Kamal Patel, and Meena Singh. Two others include Govind Singh Rajput and Tulsi Silawat, who had jumped ship from Congress to BJP after HJyotiraditya Scindhia switched sides. The Cabinet expansion comes amid growing pressure on Chouhan as the state struggles to cope up with the pandemic. 

Madhya Pradesh has been one of the worst-hit after Maharashtra. 

Citing the rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the state, Congress parliamentarian Vivek Tankha had said that the state of affairs in Madhya Pradesh is appalling and there is a need for an administrative structure in its Health Department, which is working without a dedicated minister. "The state of affairs in Madhya Pradesh is appalling. From negligible cases of coronavirus in MP on March 23, today the figure has crossed the 1,000-mark," he told PTI.

The Union government had said the COVID-19 situation is "especially serious" in Indore apart from  Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune. Acting swiftly, the Union Home Ministry also announced that six inter-ministerial central teams (IMCTs) will visit these identified areas in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan within the next three days to make on-the-spot assessment and recommend remedial measures in a report to the Centre.