MP Cabinet expansion on cards, 3 to 4 new members likely to get in

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is expected to expand his cabinet soon, a senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Thursday, an exercise planned just months ahead of assembly polls.

Three to four new members are likely to be inducted in the cabinet of Chouhan, whose current term in office started in March 2020, said the BJP leader.

The names of ex-ministers Rajendra Shukla -- a Brahmin leader and the MLA from Rewa in the Vindh region and Gaurishankar Bisen -- the legislator from Balaghat in the Mahakoshal region who is chairman of the MP Backward Class Commission, have almost been finalised for induction in the cabinet, he said.

Deliberations are on between Chouhan and senior party functionaries over the induction of Rahul Singh Lodhi and former MP minister Jalam Singh --- both from the OBC community who make up more than 45 per cent of Madhya Pradesh's population, said the BJP leader.

Lodhi, a first-time MLA from Khargapur in Tikamgarh district in the Bundelkhand region, is the nephew of senior BJP leader and former chief minister Uma Bharti. Jalam Singh, the MLA from Narsinghpur in the Mahakoshal region, is the younger brother of Union minister Prahlad Patel. Currently, the state ministry has 31 members, including the CM.

As per constitutional norms, the number can go up to 35, that is 15 per cent of the strength of the MP assembly which has 230 members. The last ministry expansion took place in January 2021. Meanwhile, Shukla and Bisen have reached Bhopal.

When contacted, Shukla declined on comment on the likely cabinet expansion. A Raj Bhavan official on Thursday told PTI that the state government has not yet sent any communication regarding oath-taking ceremony. The expansion is being done on recommendation of the BJP' central leadership to beat anti-incumbency, balance caste equations and address regional aspirations in the state, where polls are due by the year-end, party insiders said.

According to Manish Gupta, resident editor of a leading Hindi daily, anti-incumbency is palpable in Mahakoshal, Vindh and Bundelkhand regions of eastern Madhya Pradesh.

He said the BJP had put up a good show in Vindh and Bundelkhand regions in the 2018 polls, but its performance was below par in Mahakoshal. Representation of MLAs from these regions was almost negligible in the cabinet. People are feeling their regions have been neglected in cabinet representation.

Inclusion of MLAs from Mahakoshal and Bundelkhand in the ministry would prove useful for the BJP in the assembly polls," Gupta opined. Chouhan became CM for the fourth term after the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in March 2020.