By Express News Service
BHOPAL: With assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh barely three months away, there is a strong buzz that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet is likely to expand his cabinet in the next couple of days. There are at least three berths in the current council of ministers vacant.
The possibility of cabinet expansion a few months ahead of the polls has been triggered by Chouhan’s meeting with Governor Mangubhai C Patel on Tuesday night. Names of former ministers Rajendra Shukla, Gaurishankar Bisen and Jalam Singh Patel are in the race to become ministers. Shukla is a powerful four-time Brahmin MLA from Rewa district, Patel is brother of Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel.
Bisen and Jalam Singh Patel are from the OBC community, which forms more than 50% of the state’s voters and is seen as the ruling BJP’s main vote bank in MP. Two other OBC Lodhi leaders, including ex-CM Uma Bharti’s first-time MLA nephew Rahul Singh, and Pritam Singh Lodhi (declared candidate from Pichhore seat of Shivpuri district of Gwalior-Chambal region) who is also a distant relative of Bharti, are, too, said to be contenders.
The surprising move is being seen among political circles as BJP’s efforts to cement the support of its loyal OBC voters, particularly the Lodhi caste, which for long has been seen as traditional BJP voters, particularly due to their caste leader Uma Bharti. The possibility of 71-year-old former agriculture minister Gaurishankar Bisen being included in the cabinet just ahead of polls is being seen as an attempt to gracefully retire him from politics. Importantly, the seven-time MLA from Maoist-hit Balaghat district has stated that he will not contest next polls, particularly if his daughter Mausam Bisen is fielded by the party from the same unreserved seat.
Shukla, who has been a key part of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP governments in the past, is stated to be a frontrunner for the possible cabinet expansion. His name is particularly being considered, as part of possible damage control exercise by the party to keep him in good humour in the wake of reports about him and his close aide Semariya (Rewa) MLA KP Tripathi, being upset over return of ex-MLA couple Abhay Mishra and Neelam Mishra into the party after five years.
Shukla and Tripathi have made their opposition to the Mishra couple’s return to the party clear to a senior leader of the state BJP, after which the ruling party is busy in ensuring that Shukla and Tripathi are not at all won over by the opposition Congress. The party is also trying to address a long-standing regional imbalance in ministry, particularly over the presence of very few ministers from the Vindhya region, which was swept by the BJP in the 2018 polls.
Reacting to the possibility of the cabinet expansion, state BJP chief VD Sharma said, “It’s the CM’s prerogative and can happen anytime.” However, sources close to some MLAs whose names are in the running for inclusion in the cabinet, told this newspaper that the late cabinet expansion may actually hurt their poll prospects, especially by raising people’s expectations in respective assembly seats barely a month and half before elections are announced.
BHOPAL: With assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh barely three months away, there is a strong buzz that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet is likely to expand his cabinet in the next couple of days. There are at least three berths in the current council of ministers vacant.
The possibility of cabinet expansion a few months ahead of the polls has been triggered by Chouhan’s meeting with Governor Mangubhai C Patel on Tuesday night. Names of former ministers Rajendra Shukla, Gaurishankar Bisen and Jalam Singh Patel are in the race to become ministers. Shukla is a powerful four-time Brahmin MLA from Rewa district, Patel is brother of Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel.
Bisen and Jalam Singh Patel are from the OBC community, which forms more than 50% of the state’s voters and is seen as the ruling BJP’s main vote bank in MP. Two other OBC Lodhi leaders, including ex-CM Uma Bharti’s first-time MLA nephew Rahul Singh, and Pritam Singh Lodhi (declared candidate from Pichhore seat of Shivpuri district of Gwalior-Chambal region) who is also a distant relative of Bharti, are, too, said to be contenders.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The surprising move is being seen among political circles as BJP’s efforts to cement the support of its loyal OBC voters, particularly the Lodhi caste, which for long has been seen as traditional BJP voters, particularly due to their caste leader Uma Bharti. The possibility of 71-year-old former agriculture minister Gaurishankar Bisen being included in the cabinet just ahead of polls is being seen as an attempt to gracefully retire him from politics. Importantly, the seven-time MLA from Maoist-hit Balaghat district has stated that he will not contest next polls, particularly if his daughter Mausam Bisen is fielded by the party from the same unreserved seat.
Shukla, who has been a key part of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP governments in the past, is stated to be a frontrunner for the possible cabinet expansion. His name is particularly being considered, as part of possible damage control exercise by the party to keep him in good humour in the wake of reports about him and his close aide Semariya (Rewa) MLA KP Tripathi, being upset over return of ex-MLA couple Abhay Mishra and Neelam Mishra into the party after five years.
Shukla and Tripathi have made their opposition to the Mishra couple’s return to the party clear to a senior leader of the state BJP, after which the ruling party is busy in ensuring that Shukla and Tripathi are not at all won over by the opposition Congress. The party is also trying to address a long-standing regional imbalance in ministry, particularly over the presence of very few ministers from the Vindhya region, which was swept by the BJP in the 2018 polls.
Reacting to the possibility of the cabinet expansion, state BJP chief VD Sharma said, “It’s the CM’s prerogative and can happen anytime.” However, sources close to some MLAs whose names are in the running for inclusion in the cabinet, told this newspaper that the late cabinet expansion may actually hurt their poll prospects, especially by raising people’s expectations in respective assembly seats barely a month and half before elections are announced.