Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday expanded his Cabinet by inducting three new ministers, merely three months before the crucial state assembly polls in the state.
The new ministers are Rajendra Shukla, Gaurishankar Bisen and Rahul Lodhi.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel administered the oath to the three ministers at the ceremony held at the Governor House in Bhopal at around 9 am.
Rajendra Shukla and Gaurishankar Bisen are senior MLAs and both have been Cabinet ministers earlier too.
Rahul Lodhi Is a first time BJP MLA. He is the nephew of former MP Chief Minister Uma Bharti. His induction into the cabinet has surprised several people.
BJP sources say the idea is to woo the large number of Lodh caste and other OBC voters in Bundelkhand and Gwalior region.
Gaurishakar Bisen is also an OBC leader from the naxalite affected Balaghat district in Mahakaushal region. He is a seven time MLA and once Lok Sabha MP. He is presently the chairman of the MP Backward Classes Commission.
Rajendra Shukla is in his fourth consecutive term as MLA since 2003. He was the power minister in MP in 2013. Born in Rewa, Shukla is a strong Brahmin leader of the BJP in the Vindhya region.
Reports about the BJP’s present situation in the region are also not too promising and the party’s aim by inducting Shukla in the Cabinet is to appease general category voters and attract the large number of Brahmin voters in the Vindhya region.
With this expansion, the MP Cabinet now has 34 ministers including the MP CM. One seat is still vacant, as the Cabinet can have a maximum strength of 35, which is 15 per cent of the 230 seats in the state assembly.
The previous Cabinet expansion was done in January 2021.
Reacting to the Cabinet expansion, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath said that this is not an expansion of the Cabinet but an expansion of corruption.
The former Congress MP CM claimed that even if the BJP changes the entire Cabinet now, it is still losing the assembly elections.
Assembly polls in MP would be held in November this year.