Raipur: The Chhattisgarh cabinet, which will be expanded on Friday with the induction of nine ministers, is going to have six OBC MPs in a move that underlines the BJP's outreach to the backward caste voters. The party's OBC outreach appears to have been thoughtfully done keeping in mind of large OBC population in Hindi heartland states, which have a large chunk of OBC voters, who are crucial to the BJP's Mission 2024.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said the induction will take the strength of the Sai-led cabinet to 12. Nine MLAs will be sworn in as ministers at the Raj Bhavan at 11:45 am.
Brijmohan Agrawal, Ramvichar Netam, Dayaldas Baghel, Kedar Kashyap, Lakhanlal Dewangan, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, OP Choudhary, Tank Ram Verma and Laxmi Rajwade will take oath as ministers, he added.
“Very soon portfolios will be allotted. One more cabinet berth will be filled later,” CM Sai told reporters. Chhattisgarh can have a maximum of 13 ministers, including the CM. Currently, the cabinet has three members – chief minister Sai and deputy CMs Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma. They were sworn in on December 13.
After the expansion of the cabinet, it will have six members belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC), namely Arun Sao, Lakhanlal Dewangan, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, OP Choudhary, Tank Ram Verma and Laxmi Rajwade.
CM Vishnu Deo Sai, Ramvichar Netam and Kedar Kashyap are from the Scheduled Tribes, Dayaldas Baghel is from the Scheduled Caste category, while Vijay Sharma and Brijmohan Agrawal are from the general category. Rajwade will be the only woman member in the cabinet.
Agrawal, Netam, Kashyap and Baghel have served as ministers in previous BJP governments in the state, while CM Sai has been a Union minister during the first term of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Sao, Sharma, IAS-turned-politician Choudhary, Verma and Rajwade are first-time MLAs. Jaiswal and Dewangan have become MLAs for the second time.
After Friday’s expansion, the cabinet will have four members from Surguja division, three from Bilaspur division, two each from Raipur and Durg divisions and one from Bastar division.
The BJP came back to power in the state by ousting the Congress in the Assembly polls held on November 7 and 17. Results were declared on December 3. The BJP won 54 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while the Congress emerged victorious on 35 seats, down from the 68 it won in the 2018 edition.
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