MP Cabinet Expansion: 28 Ministers Sworn In, 11 Scindia Loyalists Find Place In Cabinet

After almost three months, Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Government in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday expanded his cabinet.

Acting Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office and secrecy to a total of 28 ministers including 20 cabinet and 8 ministers of state in the capital Bhopal.

In the cabinet expansion, 12 ministers who switched from Congress to BJP were sworn in, of which 11 ministers belonged to Jyotiraditya Scindia camp.

Madhya Pradesh: Imarti Devi, Prabhuram Choudhary (pic 2), and Pradhuman Singh Tomar (pic 3) take oath as Cabinet Ministers at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal. pic.twitter.com/EeSSdELZJQ

— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2020

Of the 22 MLAs joining the BJP from the Congress, 12 of whom were in the Shivraj Cabinet which include Rajwardhan Singh, Praduman Singh Tomar, Imarti Devi, Mahendra Sisodia, Prabhuram Chaudhary, Giriraj Dandotia, Suresh Dhakad, OP S Bhadoria, Brijendra Singh Yadav. , Bisahu Lal Singh, Andal Singh Kansana and Hardeep Singh Dung. Apart from this, eight-time BJP MLA Gopal Bhargava, former state Home Minister Bhupendra Singh, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Vishwas Sarang and Vijay Shah are among 11 more ministers.

3 महीने से रुके मध्य प्रदेश के मंत्रिमंडल का विस्तार हुआ. 20 कैबिनेट और 8 राज्यमंत्री समेत कुल 28 मंत्रियों ने राजधानी भोपाल में ली शपत. ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया खेले से 11 मंत्रियों को मिली कैबिनेट में जगह. @GoNews_India @GoNewsHindi @PankajPachauri @darainshahidi pic.twitter.com/FUcUFjUYau

— Ankush Choubey (@iankushchoubey) July 2, 2020

Sources say that Shivraj Singh Chauhan was forced to stand down on many candidates he had suggested in this cabinet expansion. Shivraj Singh wanted all three former ministers close to him — Bhupendra Singh, Rampal Singh, and Rajendra Shukla — to be given a place in the cabinet expansion but this did not happen. BJP high command gave only one of the three ministers close to CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan i.e. former home minister Bhupendra Singh.

After 11 Scindia supporters got a place in the cabinet, all speculations of ignoring Jyotiraditya Scindia in BJP also came to an end. After these 11 ministers joined the cabinet, Jyotiraditya Scindia is now likely to interfere in the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh.

Apart from CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister Prahlada, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajya Sabha MP Vishnu Dutt Sharma were also present during the Cabinet expansion. In Madhya Pradesh, 22 MLAs left Jyotiraditya Scindia and joined the BJP. After which the Congress's Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh was reduced to a minority and the then CM Kamal Nath had to resign from the post of Chief Minister.

Later, on 23 March, Shivraj Singh Chauhan was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the fourth time.

There is currently a BJP-led government of Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, there is now a by-election in 24 seats in the state and the results of the by-elections in 24 seats will determine the future of Shivraj Singh Chauhan's government. In the 230-member Vidhan Sabha of Madhya Pradesh, there are currently 107 BJP MLAs, 92 Congress, 2 BSP, one SP and four independent MLAs.