28 ministers take oath as Chouhan expands cabinet
MADHYA PRADESH 12 new ministers inducted considered loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia; eight become first-time ministers
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inducted 28 new ministers in his cabinet on Thursday, including 12 former Congress leaders, three months after he assumed office for a fourth term.
Uttar Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel, who was sworn in as the acting governor on Wednesday due to the hospitalisation of governor Lalji Tandon in Lucknow, administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers in a simple function organised at the Raj Bhavan premises.
The 28 ministers include 20 cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state. The council of ministers now has 34 members, with only one berth lying vacant.
Twelve of the 28 new ministers are considered loyal to Rajya Sabha member and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. In the last cabinet expansion on April 21, two other leaders close to Scindia were inducted into the council.
Chouhan said, “We all have to make concerted efforts for progress and development of the state. Service to public should be the goal of our life.”
Scindia said, “I hope, all ministers will work shoulder to shoulder with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda for progress and development of the state.”
Chouhan came to power in March when the previous Congress-led administration lost its majority after 22 legislators resigned from the state assembly. These 22 seats, along with two others, are set for bypolls soon. Fifteen new faces were inducted on Thursday. The former MLAS will have to get elected within six months to retain their berth. This is the second cabinet expansion by Chouhan this term. On April 21, five ministers were sworn in. Twelve of the ministers come from the Gwalior-chambal region and 10 from Malwa-nimad. Bundelkhand has four ministers. Vindya and central regions have three ministers each, and Mahakoshal is represented by one minister.
There are four ministers each from scheduled tribes and scheduled castes. There are at least 10 ministers from Rajput clan and eight from the other backward classes. There are four women in the council of ministers.
“Whether it was my respected father or it’s me, the Scindia family has always trodden on the path of truth and justice with our resolve to serve people. In 15 months of Congress rule earlier there was rampant corruption and there were attempts to do harm to the state. I am confident that the government under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan will fulfil the aspirations of people,” Scindia said.
The new cabinet ministers are Gopal Bhargava, Vijay Shah, Jagdish Devda, Bisahulal Singh, Yashodhra Raje Scindia, Bhupendra Singh, Brijendra Pratap Singh, Vishwas Sarang, Imrati Devi, Dr Prabhuram Chaudhary, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Pradyumn Singh Tomar, Prem Singh Patel, Omprakash Saklecha, Aindal Singh Kansana, Usha Thakur, Arvind Bhadoria, Mohan Yadav, Hardeep Singh Dang, and Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon, the last eight becoming ministers first time.