Internal tussle seems to have got the better of the BJP as far as cabinet expansion in Madhya Pradesh is concerned with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan returning to Bhopal from New Delhi on Tuesday morning without getting a nod on the proposed names of ministers, according to sources.
Later in the evening, Chouhan also ruled out an expansion plan for July 1, thus confirming that the process has been deferred as of now. In short replies to media queries, Chouhan said that the expansion wasn't proposed for July 1 and will happen after that.
There were strong speculations that the cabinet expansion would happen on June 30 when the CM left for New Delhi on June 28 evening for the first time since he assumed office in March.
The main point of contention that is holding up the cabinet expansion is said to be the fact that Chouhan wants his trusted lieutenants to be included in the cabinet, but the central leadership is intent on giving place to fresh faces. The number of berths available for BJP original cadre has been significantly curtailed as around 10-12 Scindia supporters and others who left the Congress with them are to be included in the cabinet. As of now, the cabinet is proposed to be of maximum 29 to 30 members and five ministers are already in place. This leaves only about 24-25 berths to be distributed among the numerous aspirants.
After prolonged discussions at state level, Chouhan had left for Delhi on June 28 with state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and organising general secretary Suhas Bhagat with a list of proposed names of ministers.
However, despite repeated consultations with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J.P. Nadda, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, BJP national organising general secretary B.L. Santosh, and meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia, approval to the list did not come, sources said.
The central leadership is said to have made it clear to the CM that new faces should be inducted in the cabinet and those who have been ministers more than two times should preferably be left out, sources added. Consequently, objections have been raised on Shivraj's trusted aides like Bhupendra Singh, Rajendra Shukla, Rampal Singh, Vijay Shah, Gaurishankar Bisen and Karan Singh Verma.
The central leaders have alternatively suggested MLAs like Rameshwar Sharma or Vishnu Khatri from Bhopal, Ramesh Mendola, Usha Thakur or Malini Gaud from Indore, Arvind Bhadoria from Gwalior and so on.
Though some sources also indicated that Scindia also wanted a larger share in the pie, this is almost ruled out as already there are talks of ex-Congress MLAs getting about 10-12 berths including the two who are already ministers.
After returning to Bhopal on Tuesday, Chouhan held fresh discussions with state BJP president and organising general secretary with a view to reach consensus on the names. This, however, led to the deferment of the proposed expansion as of now.
Meanwhile, Anandi Ben Patel, who has been made in-charge governor of Madhya Pradesh, is scheduled to arrive in Bhopal on Wednesday afternoon and will be administered oath by the chief justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court at 4.30 pm, sources said.
