The new Chhattisgarh cabinet under Vishnu Deo Sai will take oath on Wednesday, a "historic" event which will see the participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, among others. The new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mohan Yadav, will also swear in at the Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal on Wednesday.
The oath-taking ceremony in Madhya Pradesh will be held at 11:30 am while in Chhattisgarh, the Science College ground in Raipur has been decked up for the event to be held at 2 pm. More than 50,000 people are expected to attend the functions.
After he was named as the chief minister-designate on Monday, Yadav met Governor Mangubhai Patel and staked a claim to form the next government.
Madhya Pradesh state BJP chief Vishnu Dutt Sharma told reporters on Tuesday that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will also attend the function. While the BJP central leadership has selected Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda as the deputy chief minister, it is unclear whether they would also take oath along with Yadav.
Senior BJP leader and newly-elected MLA Narendra Singh Tomar, who was among the contenders for the CM's post, will be the new assembly speaker.
In Chhattisgarh, state chief Arun Sao said the swearing-in will be a historic event. "PM Narendra Modi ji, BJP president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, chief ministers of other states, Union ministers, senior BJP leaders from other states, eminent personalities, and intellectuals will attend the ceremony," Sao said.
The BJP unit has also invited the political parties in the state, including the opposition (Congress), for the event. BJP workers and common people will be also present in large numbers, he said.
However, the state unit is yet to announce the details of the Cabinet, including the deputy chief ministers, while rumours are that there will be two two deputy CMs - one each from OBC and the general category.
The new council of ministers may be a mix of fresh faces and old-timers, said reports. "Several fresh faces were elected in recent elections from the BJP sparking off speculations that the old-timers may find it tough to secure a cabinet berth," political expert R Krishna Das told PTI.
