Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Congress president Rahul Gandhi tried to balance the caste and region and different camps in selecting cabinet members from the newly elected legislators.
As expected, the formation of 28-member Cabinet in Madhya Pradesh saw power being distributed proportionately among the regional satraps– Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
In a simple function, Governor Anandiben Patel administered oath of office and secrecy to 28 Ministers at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal on Tuesday.
For obvious reasons, ten Kamal Nath loyalists found ministerial berths while seven berths were offered to those seemed close to former union minister Jyotiradiya Scindia. Two-time Chief Minister Digvijay Singh who remained in the backdrop to ensure a Congress win was satisfied with nine ministerial berths to his loyalists including to his son Jaivardhan Singh and close relative Priyavrat Singh.
Former MPCC president Arun Yadav’s brother Sachin, an MLA from Kasravad was appointed a minister while ministerial berth was also given to Congress working president and the member of Team Rahul Gandhi—Jitu Patwari who has won from Rau seat in Indore.
Madhya Pradesh which was the epicenter of caste protests after restoration of SC/ ST Act provisions by the Centre felt the heat of the protests as eight
Thakurs (Rajputs) were accommodated in the Cabinet alongside two Brahmins, five OBSc, four STs and five SCs and Arif Aqueel remained the lone Muslim face in the cabinet.
Former Minister and the ex- Rajya Sabha member, Vijay Laxmi Sadho and Dabra MLA Imarti Devi remained the women faces of the cabinet. Bhopal received a single representation in the cabinet as South-West Bhopal MLA PC Sharma was included in the list of ministers.
Thirty two-year-old Jaivardhan Singh, an MLA from Raghogarh and the son of Digvijay Singh is the youngest member of the cabinet. Congress rebel Pradip Jaiswal who contested as an independent from Wara Seoni and defeated CM Shivraj Singh Chouhna’s brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani who had defected to Congress ahead of polls, was the lone independent MLA who is in the cabinet.
None of the two MLAs from BSP and the lone MLA from SP was given any representation in the cabinet. The portfolios of the ministers would be allotted later.
First cabinet meeting of the Congress government has been convened in the evening on Tuesday at PCC and NP Prajapati who has won from Gotegaon in Jabalpur has been nominated by the Congress party for the post of speaker.