After Running Solo Show for Almost a Month, Shivraj Chouhan Gets Mini Cabinet of 5 Ministers Amid Pandemic

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan formed a mini cabinet of five ministers on Tuesday in a simple function held at the Raj Bhavan amid restrictions due to coronavirus.

After taking over as CM on March 23, Chouhan was functioning alone, giving ammunition to the opposition Congress that attacked him for not picking ministers amid the pandemic.

As the small cabinet was sworn in at Raj Bhavan, it was evident that instead of accommodating seniors, the party high command clearly went for caste equations and tried to keep the newly inducted Jyotiraditya Scindia camp satisfied.

Those included in the cabinet are Narottam Mishra and Govind Singh Rajput from general category, Meena Singh from Scheduled Tribe, Kamal Patel from OBC and Tulsiram Silawat from Scheduled Caste category.

Silawat and Rajput are staunch Scindia loyalists who were ministers in the Kamal Nath government.

Senior MLAs, including Gopal Bhargav, Rajendra Shukla, Bhupendra Singh, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Gauri Shankar bisen and Rampal Singh, were considered for cabinet birth but eventually, the party high command instructed that a small cabinet be formed first, claimed sources.

Bisahu Lal Singh, Mahendra Sisodiya and Prabhu Ram Chaudhari, who had switched over to BJP from Congress, have been kept in the waiting list.

Portfolio allocation for these ministers is likely to take place later in the day and the sources claimed that these five ministers could be handed over two ministries each in Chouhan government.

Sources added that the cabinet could be further expanded in the first week of May.

The opposition Congress was persistently attacking the chief minister for running a one-man show despite the state being in the grip of coronavirus.

Rajya Sabha MPs Kapil Sibal and Vivek Tankha had written to President of India on Monday urging him to intervene in the matter of state government functioning without Council of Ministers 'against constitutional norms.'

The road ahead is, however, not expected to be smooth for Chouhan as he needs to accommodate his colleagues, those who switched over from Congress as well as allies.