Ending the confusion prevailing for days over the proposed Cabinet expansion in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here on Wednesday told that Cabinet expansion will take place on Thursday.
It was however certain that expansion is likely on Thursday as Raj Bhavan in Madhya Pradesh had announced that UP Governor Anandiben Patel would take charge as the acting Governor of MP on Wednesday at 4.30 pm.
Talking to the media persons after attending an event on corona prevention in Bhopal on Wednesday morning, Chouhan said, “The Governor will be sworn in today and the Cabinet expansion shall take place on Thursday.”
On the prolonged deliberations on the names of ministers to be inducted in his cabinet, Chouhan offered a cryptic response hinting that there was stiff internal tussle for ministerial berths with large numbers of claimants from Jyotiraditya Scindia camp and originally BJP leaders in sizable numbers as well.
“Manthan ke baad amrit hi nikalta hai, jo Vish nikalta hai Shiv usse pe jate hain,” said Chouhan in Hindi hinting that he had to endure a lot of pressures while zeroing in on the names of his Cabinet colleagues.
Sources claimed that Scindia was adamant on including all his supporter ex-MLAs, while the BJP state unit wanted to lower down this number to accommodate its senior leaders.
Several BJP senior leaders too were upset with plans to shift them to party organisation. Leaders like Gopal Bhargav had expressed their resentment openly cautioning party that ignoring senior leaders during Cabinet expansion won’t be a good idea.
Chouhan on Tuesday too had tweeted an Urdu couplet to hint that all wasn’t being done as per his wish when it comes to Cabinet expansion.
Sources also claimed that party high command too have added several names into the list of ministers to be inducted into the Shivraj cabinet whereas the state unit wanted them to be dropped from the list.
However, for obvious reasons the Congress party took pot shots at ruling BJP.