In keeping with its “commitments,” as many as 12 members of the newly formed Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Monday are from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, including the new Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, highlighting the BJP’s ongoing efforts to balance caste/class arithmetic ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Others who took the oath included former Union Minister Prahlad Patel and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, among the 28 MLAs sworn into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet. While 18 of them will hold cabinet berths, the other 10 will be junior ministers, or Ministers of State. Former Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has already been elected as the Speaker.
The party has also added a mix of the old and new, attempting to balance the aspirations of its newer faces (particularly those who crossed over from the Congress three years ago) and the expectations of its more veteran State leaders, including those who served with Chouhan.
The maximum strength of the Council of Ministers is 35, including the Chief Minister. Madhya Pradesh’s new ministers were chosen after extensive talks with the BJP’s Central leadership, including party president JP Nadda. Yadav had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed the cabinet formation.
However, the BJP failed to meet the aspirations of keeping 33 per cent representation for women, as there are only five women in the new cabinet.
The party had previously emphasised success over the women’s empowerment platform and ex-Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s “Ladli Behna Yojana” scheme, which contributed to the Congress’ defeat in the polls.
Although Congress emerged victorious in the 2018 Assembly polls, the Kamal Nath Government fell after one and a half years as Jyotiraditya Scindia switched sides with a large number of MLAs, joining the BJP to reinstate the outgoing Shivraj Singh Chauhan government.
Governor Mangubha C Patel administered the oath to Yadav and his two deputies, Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla, Scheduled Caste and Brahmin faces in the new cabinet.
Among those sworn in were Nirmala Bhuria, Narayan Kushwaha, and Nagar Singh Chouhan. Bhuria was previously the junior Health Minister, and Kushwaha was the junior Home Minister.
Tribal leader Sampatiya Uikey was sworn in, along with Vijay Shah, Karan Singh Verma, Rakesh Singh, Vishvas Sarang, Rakesh Shukla, Chaitanya Kashyap, Inder Singh Parmar, and Uday Pratap Singh.
Also added were Pradhuman Singh Tomar, who was previously the Energy Minister; Tulsi Ram Silawat, the former junior Water Resources Minister; Govind Singh Rajput, the former Revenue and Transport; and Aidal Singh Kansana.
All four were among the 22 who supported Scindia when he quit the Congress in 2020, triggering the fall of Kamal Nath’s government.
Junior ministers (with independent charge) are Krishna Gaur, Dharmendra Bhav Lodhi, Dilip Jaiswal, Gautam Tetwal, Lakhan Patel, and Narayan Singh Pawar. MLAs who took the oath as Ministers of State are Narendra Shivaji Patel, Pratima Bagri, Dilip Ahirwar, and Radha Singh.
Twelve from the earlier cabinet had contested and lost the election. Of those who contested and won, only six have been given ministerial berths this time around. Among those not included were Bhupendra Singh, who is close to former Shivraj Chouhan, and Gopal Bhargava, a nine-time MLA.
The BJP claimed a landslide win in last month’s election, winning 163 of the Hindi heartland state’s 230 seats, shrugging off most exit polls’ predictions of a tight race with the Congress, which claimed just 66 seats compared to the 114 it won five years ago. The saffron party also routed its rival in two other states that voted then - Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, both of which the Congress had ruled.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot slammed the BJP government in the state on Monday over the delay in cabinet formation, claiming that disappointment has started to spread among people due to it, and governance has come to a standstill. He also said people are watching which ministers they should approach with their problems and added that the cabinet should be formed at the earliest so that the government can run smoothly.
While the cabinet is already in place in Chhattisgarh, where the BJP wrested power from Congress, all eyes are now on the other state Rajasthan that came into the kitty of BJP this year’s assembly polls. Sources in the BJP said the cabinet formation is expected in a day or two, and around 15 MLAs are likely to be inducted into the council of ministers.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has hit out, questioning the delay in cabinet announcement. “Disappointment has now started being spread among the public because the people of Rajasthan gave a clear mandate to the BJP on December 3. But even after 22 days, the cabinet has not been formed, due to which governance has come to a standstill. Every department is also in a state of confusion,” Gehlot said.
In Chhattisgarh, nine BJP MLAs took oath last Friday as ministers in the CM Vishnu Deo Sai government in the tribal-dominated State.
