The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh cabinet was expanded on Thursday with induction of 28 ministers, including a dozen loyalists of BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose exit from the Congress in March led to fall of the Kamal Nath-led regime in the state.
Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to the new ministers at a function in the Raj Bhawan. The event was organised by following COVID-19 protocols.
Those inducted include 20 cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state. Prominent among the new ministers are BJP MLAs Yashodhara Raje Scindia and Gopal Bhargava.
The expansion was much awaited as several senior leaders of the BJP and core Scindia loyalists who were earlier ministers in the Kamal Nath cabinet had been left out when a truncated cabinet took oath in the state on April 21.
Resentment was boiling among leaders and they are getting impatient about the political situation. Shivraj Singh Chouhan had taken oath as the chief minister as the BJP formed government in the state on March 23 after toppling the Kamal Nath government with help of 22 Jyotiraditya Scindia supporter MLAs of the Congress, who resigned from their membership.
Chouhan had continued alone in the government for almost a month and under severe criticism and pressure from the opposition Congress, five ministers were inducted on April 21. But this reportedly caused the situation to become more uncomfortable within the ruling party, forcing it to move ahead with the cabinet expansion. Chouhan had said after the April 21 oath taking ceremony that the expansion will be done with wider consultations after the lockdown was over. However, the lockdown which was scheduled to be lifted on May 3 was extended to May 17.
-Inputs from PTI