Bhopal: The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh cabinet was expanded on Thursday after a three-month-long break with induction of 28 ministers, including a dozen loyalists of BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose exit from the Congress in March led to fall of the Kamal Nath-led regime in the state.
20 Cabinet ministers and eight state ministers took oath at the Raj Bhavan in Bhopal. Prominent among the new ministers are BJP MLAs Yashodhara Raje Scindia and Gopal Bhargava.
The oath of office was administered by Governor Anandiben Patel. It is to be noted that Anandiben Patel has been given the additional charge as Madhya Pradesh governor in view of incumbent Lalji Tandon's hospitalisation. Patel took oath as MP governor on Wednesday.
Those who have been sworn in include Gopal Bhargava, Vijay Shah, Jagdish Deora, Bisahu Lal Singh, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Bhupendra Singh, Edal Singh Kansana, Brijendra Pratap Singh, Vishwas Sarang, Imrati Devi, Prabhuram Chaudhary, Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Pradyuman Singh Tomar, Prem Singh Patel, Om Prakash Saklecha, Usha Thakur, Arvind Bhadoria, Mohan Yadav, Hardeep Singh Dung, Rajyavardhan Singh Dittigaon were sworn in.
Those present on the occasion include Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, BJP State President Vishnu Dutt Sharma among others.
A BJP leader said that Sahastrabuddhe, Chouhan and state BJP chief V D Sharma were holding meetings on Wednesday night with party legislators at the CM's house to give final touches to the list of new ministers.
Earlier, when asked about the delay in cabinet expansion, Chouhan avoided a direct reply and turned to mythology.
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"Only 'amrit' (elixir) comes out of 'manthan' (churning), vish (poison) is consumed by (Lord) Shiva," the 61-year-old BJP leader said without elaborating but indicating the difficult task before him.
The initial 'mini' expansion of the Chouhan cabinet took place on April 21 with the induction of five ministers, including two former Congress MLAs close to Scindia -- Tulsi Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput.
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Chouhan took oath as chief minister for a record fourth term on March 23 this year, after Kamal Nath resigned from the post following rebellion by 22 MLAs of the Congress.
Inputs from Agencies
