MP CM includes Scindia's loyalists in cabinet expansion

Bhopal, Jan 5: In a major development, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has expanded his cabinet once again. He has included MLA Tulsiram Silawat and Surkhi MLA Govind Rajput who are former ministers and loyalists of Jyotiraditya Scindia who had turned towards the BJP from the Congress last year during March.

 

Silawat and Rajput were taken in as ministers in the first cabinet expansion which was held on 21 April 2020. They had to resign in September after the completion of six months as they had not been elected. However, after winning the by-polls held in 2020, they are inducted once again to the cabinet.

 

 

This round of cabinet expansion has come nearly two months after Shivraj Singh Chouhan came back into power by winning the assembly by-polls. It won 19 out of 28 seats in the by-polls held in the state. This development took the tally of the BJP to 126 in the house of 230.

 

In an unexpected event, in the four cabinet berths left vacant by Chouhan, none has gone to Scindia loyalists or to older BJP leaders. Three of the MLAs among his loyalists lost the bypoll - Imarti Devi, Girraj Dandotiya and Adal Singh Kansana.

 

In the first cabinet expansion under Chouhan, five loyalists of Scindia being inducted (including the two who have been re-inducted in the third as elected members); the second saw a dozen of his loyalists inducted.

 

Jyotiraditya Scindia had left the Congress last year along with 22 MLAs. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on his father Madhavrao Scindia's birthday along with his loyalists last year in March.