[splco_heading size=”15″ align=”left” margin=”30″]During third week of April 2002 Shivrah Singh Chouhan inducted five ministers into his cabinet, almost a month after he returned to the helm of affairs in the landlocked state.[/splco_heading]
Few weeks before Cabinet expansion conducted by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan disappointed many MLAs in the BJP party member sources confirmed .
During corona epidemic time Chief Minister Chouhan was present at the ceremony. The five ministers include one woman. Of them, three are sitting and two former MLAs.
1. Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Chief Minister): Finance and portfolios that have not been assigned to anyone
2. Narottam Mishra: Home and Health
3. Meena Singh: Tribal Welfare
4. Kamal Patel: Agriculture department
5. Tulsi Silawat: Water Resources Department
6. Govind Singh Rajput: Food Processing
Though about a dozen BJP hopefuls had reportedly parked themselves in Bhopal even though the state capital was a coronavirus hotspot.
There were reports that the state garage requisitioned 12 cars but the move was shelved and only five ministers made it.
But later only five were sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at a function in the Raj Bhawan in Bhopal amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Three former state health ministers, Narottam Mishra, Tulsi Silawat and Kamal Patel (he was minister in charge of medical education), made it leaving many erstwhile ministers in Chauhan cabinet fuming .
Mishra has in the past been accused of “paid news” during the 2008 Assembly polls. The Election Commission unanimously asked for Mishra’s disqualification but the Delhi high Court set aside the disqualification.
[splco_spacer size=”30″]
[splco_spacer size=”30″]
The three BJP ministers are not considered personally loyal to Chouhan while the two Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalists are non-MLAs.
The two ex-MLAs Tulsi Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput are supporters of former Congress leader and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
They were among 22 others who quit the Congress last month after Scindia announced his departure from the grand old party.
The resignation of the Congress MLAs resulted in the collapse of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government. All the 22 later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Given the uncertainly over the coronavirus, many wonder how Chouhan would ensure Assembly by-polls within six months. MP does not have a second house or legislative council.
