Madhya Pradesh: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan Expands Cabinet, Inducts 3 BJP MLAs As Ministers – News18

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday expanded his cabinet by inducting three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators into his cabinet as ministers.  The move came just months ahead of Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, which are likely to be held at the end of the year.

The three MLAs that are sworn in include Balaghat legislator Gaurishankar Bisen, Rewa legislator Rajendra Shukla, and Khargapur legislator Rahul Lodhi.

They took oath in the presence of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Governor Mangubhai Patel during the swearing-in ceremony organised at Raj Bhavan at 8:45 a.m.

According to party insiders, the expansion has been done on the recommendation of the BJP’s central leadership to beat anti-incumbency, balance caste equations and address regional aspirations.

Lodhi, a first-time MLA from Khargapur in Tikamgarh district in the Bundelkhand region, is the nephew of senior BJP leader and former chief minister Uma Bharti. He comes from the Other Backward Classes that form 45 per cent of the state’s population.

Earlier, the name of Jalam Singh, the MLA from Narsinghpur in the Mahakoshal region, who is the younger brother of Union minister Prahlad Patel, was also doing rounds in political circles for the ministerial berth. However, he was not sworn in today.

Currently, the state has 31 ministers, including the CM, while the figure can go up to 35, or 15 per cent of the strength of the MP Assembly, which has 230 members.

The last expansion of the Chouhan cabinet took place in January 2021.

(With PTI Inputs)