The long-awaited expansion of Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet in Madhya Pradesh will be done on July 2. The newly-inducted ministers will be administered the oath of office by in-charge governor Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhavan at 11.00 am, sources said.
Even as the schedule of the oath taking ceremony became public on Wednesday evening, consultations were still going on between Chief Minister Chouhan, state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma and party's state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe at the CM House, to give a final shape to the list of probables in the state cabinet.
There are indications that 10 more ex-Congress MLAs including supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia and about four who resigned from the Congress in March this year are to be included in the cabinet. Two of Scindia's supporters are already ministers.
Another 13 to 14 ministers, including some new faces will be inducted, though the names could only be speculated. Sources said that some former ministers like Rampal Singh, Gaurishankar Bisen and Paras Jain were likely to be dropped. Some other former ministers might also make way for new faces like Arvind Bhadoria, Chaitanya Kashyap, Mohan Yadav and others.
Scindia himself will attend the oath taking ceremony after arriving in Bhopal on a chartered flight around 10.00 am on Thursday. He will also hold one-to-one consultations with his supporter MLAs later in the day and also get some more Congress workers and leaders inducted into the BJP in a function at the party office. The Rajya Sabha member will also address a virtual rally on completion of one year of Modi government at centre on July 3, sources said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Anandiben Patel was herself administered the oath of office as in-charge governor of MP by Chief Justice of MP High Court A.K Mittal. She has been given the charge as MP Governor Lalji Tandon is ailing and has been admitted to a private hospital in Lucknow.
Shivraj's cryptic comment causes flutter
Meanwhile, a cryptic comment by Chief Minister Chouhan on Wednesday caused quite some flutter. When asked about the long drawn process of finalising the names of ministers, Chouhan said that 'Amrit (nectar) came out only after long churning and the poison that came out was consumed by (Lord) Shiva'. The chief minister also confirmed to the media that the cabinet expansion was to be held on July 2.
As Chouhan is sometimes referred to as 'Shiv' in local media and political circles, the comment was circulated with some interest. There have been indications that several of Chouhan's choices of ministers have been rejected by the central leadership and this time the cabinet will have a clear imprint of Scindia and central leaders.
