Stung by criticism of being a one-man army, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has begun discussing the formation of his cabinet with the BJP’s central leadership. The move comes 25 days after he was sworn in as CM and five days after he said the cabinet wasn’t being formed because senior leaders were busy dealing with Covid-19.
Chouhan has come under fire from the opposition and also social media users for Madhya Pradesh’s handling of the pandemic.
On April 10, Congress leader and former leader of Opposition Ajay Singh said, “To become a one-man army, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan put in peril lives of 7.50 crore people of Madhya Pradesh. He is busy in his branding and publicity instead of protecting people of the state from Corona. In Madhya Pradesh, situation is going from bad to worse.”
Since Chouhan took oath as the chief minister for the fourth time on March 23, half of the 52 districts in the state have been affected, it has 1,164 cases and 55 people have died. What has hit the government the hardest is 94 people of health department testing positive for Covid-19, including four IAS officials, compelling the government to institute a probe. On Thursday, senior lawyer of Supreme Court and Congress’ Rajya Sabha member, Vivek Tankha, tweeted: “Congratulations Shivraj ji. Amidst so much gloom in MP u managed an Indian record-as the longest serving CM without a council of minister. Previous best record of 24 days of was of Mr Yediyurappa CM Karnataka - both became CMs 4th term & formed Govts with the aid of defection.”
State Congress chief Kamal Nath’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “The chief minister didn’t form his cabinet as he wanted to present his larger than life image as a hero while thinking that he would be able to control coronavirus single-handedly. But the fact remains that CM failed again miserably....”
{{/usCountry}}State Congress chief Kamal Nath’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said, “The chief minister didn’t form his cabinet as he wanted to present his larger than life image as a hero while thinking that he would be able to control coronavirus single-handedly. But the fact remains that CM failed again miserably....”
{{/usCountry}}BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai said, “Formation of a cabinet is a CM’s prerogative. It is wrong to say he is alone in his fight. The entire government machinery is fighting the disease under him.The Congress’ failure to make preparations when it was in power aggravated the situation.”