Chief Minister Kamal Nath is likely to finalise his cabinet by Friday evening. On Thursday, Nath called on Governor Anandiben Patel intimating her about the probable schedule of the Cabinet formation.
It is expected that the names of the Ministers would be finalised after deliberations with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is vacationing in Shimla. Gandhi is expected to return on Friday and only then the names would be finalised.
Nath is left for New Delhi on Thursday night and expected to meet Rahul Gandhi on Friday. Since, the Governor is going out of station on December 25, sources claimed that cabinet oath taking is expected on December 23 or 24. The names of the ministers would be finalized by Friday evening. Besides, sources claimed that the session of the State Assembly would be convened on January 7 and the Governor’s address is scheduled on the next day.
Sources in Congress said preliminary exercise to short-list the names of some two dozen MLAs out of 114 Congress MLAs, independent and supporting groups has already been completed.
However, it would be a herculean task for Nath to balance the cabinet on caste and region basis. Since, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was in the race of chief minister, it is expected that more faces from his camp would be included in the cabinet.
Going with the size of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, there could be 35 ministers in the cabinet, but strategically, few berths are left vacant.