A five-member mini cabinet was sworn in under Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday, a month after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came back to power following the exit of former Congress leader Jyotiradiya Scindia and 21 MLAs loyal to him.
Narottam Mishra, Kamal Patel, Meena Singh, Govind Rajput and Tulsi Silavat took oath as ministers, but no member of the cabinet was assigned a portfolio.
All five ministers, along with Shivraj, will oversee the state's coronavirus preparedness. Silavat, who was the health minister in the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, while Mishra has also held the health portfolio under Chouhan in the past.
Advertisement
Among the five ministers, Rajput and Silavat are the considered Scindia loyalists. However, no Scindia loyalist from the Gwalior-Chambal division was inducted in the cabinet on Saturday. Three other Congress rebels, who were not from the Scindia camp, -- Hardeep Dang, Aidal Singh Kansana and Bisahulal Singh were also left out for now. State BJP president VD Sharma says the cabinet expansion may happen after May 3.
Among the prominent BJP veterans not considered in the first cabinet is the Gopal Bhargava, who has never lost an Assembly election since 1984. Bhargava was a minister in the earlier Uma Bharati, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj cabinets and the Leader of Opposition when Nath was the chief minister. He is a Chouhan rival and hails from the Bundelkhand region.
