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Five sworn into Chouhan cabinet
The five include Tulsi Silavat, 66, and Govind Singh Rajput, 58, whose rebellion along with 20 other lawmakers, brought down Kamal Nath’s Congress government in March. Silavat and Rajput are the loyalists of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month. The two were ministers in Nath’s cabinet too.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday expanded his cabinet with the induction of five ministers after much criticism for running the state alone despite the Covid-19 crisis for nearly a month since taking office following the collapse of the previous Congress government.
The five include Tulsi Silavat, 66, and Govind Singh Rajput, 58, whose rebellion along with 20 other lawmakers, brought down Kamal Nath’s Congress government in March. Silavat and Rajput are the loyalists of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month. The two were ministers in Nath’s cabinet too.
The other three ministers, who were sworn in at a low key ceremony at governor Lalji Tandon’s residence amid the Covid-19 lockdown, are Narottam Mishra, 60, Kamal Patel, 58, and Meena Singh, 48. Chauhan, 61, is expected to further expand his cabinet after the extended Covid-19 lockdown ends on May 3.
Mishra was one among the front runners for the chief minister’s post when the BJP toppled the Congress government. He along with Patel and Singh have served as ministers previously as well.
Experts said Chouhan has taken caste and regional considerations into account while constituting the cabinet.
Mishra, a sixth-term lawmaker from Gwalior-Chambal region, is a Brahmin. Silavat is a five-time assembly member from Malwa and is from a scheduled caste. Patel comes from central Madhya Pradesh and represents the Other Backward Class community. Singh, who is from Vindhya, is a tribal leader and Rajput from Bundelkhand is also an upper caste like Mishra.
Patel was arrested in May 2010 and spent three months in jail on charges of destroying evidence in a murder case in which his sons are accused. He was acquitted in 2011.
Chouhan congratulated his ministerial colleagues for their induction. “We will together work for the progress and development of Madhya Pradesh and achieve our goal of public welfare,” he said.
In a tweet, Scindia said, “My good wishes to all the five ministers who took oath today. I hope, you all will fight together against Corona and achieve victory.”
Congress leader Narendra Saluja said 22 Congress lawmakers betrayed their party for the BJP government’s formation but only two “turncoats” got ministerial berths. He questioned why have the rest been excluded. “Is it not betrayal? Also, many heavyweights of the BJP are missing from the cabinet. Is it the party with a difference?” he asked.
There was no distribution of portfolios till Tuesday evening but Chouhan assigned the ministers different divisions monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the measures taken to check the spread of Covid-19.
The number of Covid-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh has risen to 1,485. The state has so far reported 76 Covid-19 related fatalities and the pandemic has spread to 26 of its 52 districts.
Indore has emerged as one of the major Covid-19 hotspots in the country and prompted the Centre to send a team on Monday to the city to assess and manage the situation.
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