In a significant political development, 28 individuals, including former Union Minister Prahlad Patel and BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, took the oath to join the Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Monday afternoon. Out of these, 18 will serve as cabinet ministers, while the remaining 10 will assume roles as junior ministers or Ministers of State, as reported by news agency PTI.
Despite the BJP’s emphasis on women’s empowerment during the election campaign and the promotion of ex-Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’ scheme, the new cabinet comprises only five women.
Governor Mangubha C Patel presided over the swearing-in ceremony, administering the oath not only to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav but also to his deputies, Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla, both prominent figures representing the Scheduled Caste and Brahmin communities within the BJP.
The composition of the cabinet reflects efforts by the BJP to maintain a balanced caste and class representation, with 11 members belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. This strategic move aligns with the party’s ongoing initiatives to address caste and class considerations in the run-up to next year’s elections.
The delay in announcing Mohan Yadav as the Chief Minister was widely perceived as a deliberate strategy by the BJP to carefully navigate caste dynamics. Among the newly sworn-in members are Nirmala Bhuria, Narayan Singh Kushwaha, and Nagar Singh Chouhan. Notably, Ms. Bhuria held the position of junior Health Minister, while Mr. Kushwaha served as the junior Home Minister in the previous government.
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Tribal leader Sampatiya Uikey has also secured a place in the new cabinet. Additional additions include Pradhuman Singh Tomar, former Energy Minister; Tulsi Ram Silawat, former junior Water Resources Minister; Govind Singh Rajput, former Revenue and Transport Minister; and Aidal Singh Kansana. It is noteworthy that all four were part of the 22-member group that supported the exit of ex-Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia in 2020, leading to the downfall of Kamal Nath’s government.
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