Babulal, Sartaj shown the door as Chouhan expands his cabinet
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday dropped two senior ministers, apparently on ground of old age, as he expanded his council of ministers, inducting four ministers of cabinet rank and five ministers of state.
Babulal Gaur (85) and Sartaj Singh (76), who held the important home and PWD portfolios respectively, were shown the door. Both resigned after state BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan conveyed the party’s decision to them by visiting them at their bungalows in the afternoon.
The cabinet expansion carried out on Thursday by Chouhan was the first in his third term.
Mining baron Sanjay Pathak, who switched over to the BJP from the Congress two years ago, was inducted despite stiff opposition. Nine ministers inducted include Omprakash Dhruve, Archna Chitnis, Rustam Singh and Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya (all Cabinet ministers), Harsh Singh, Sanjay Pathak, Lalita Yadav, Surya Prakash Meena and Vishwas Sarang (all ministers of state).
Governor Ram Naresh Yadav administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a function at Raj Bhavan.
Gaur caused a flutter in the party after he refused to comply with the decision to remove him. The leader’s opposition led to a flurry of phone calls between Bhopal and Delhi and the party national general secretary Ramlal later reportedly convincing Gaur to put in his papers. It was in the evening that Gaur sent his resignation letter to the CM.
Sartaj complied with the decision but also questioned the party’s decision, saying he travelled more than any young minister and that performance should be a criterion for dropping any minister from the cabinet.
Both the ministers kept away from the swearing-in ceremony.
Two-time party MLA from Indore, Sudarshan Gupta, who had made preparations for a lunch for his party workers at his bungalow, was disappointment as his name was dropped.
Sources said following the reshuffle, a happiness ministry, a first-of-its-kind in the country, will be created.
The new ministry, inspired by Bhutan, which has the concept of ‘gross national happiness index’, will likely be headed by the CM.