The new BJP government led by Mohan Yadav formally took over in Madhya Pradesh as Yadav took oath of office in a 10-minute but politically glittering ceremony in Bhopal on Wednesday.
His deputies Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla also took oath with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the main dais and presence of home minister Amit Shah, party president J.P. Nadda and chief ministers of 11 BJP ruled states.
However all eyes now are on the selection of ministers for the Yadav cabinet and if the choice of CM and first time appointment of deputy chief ministers are any indications, surprise new faces are likely to be inducted.
The BJP top leadership might like a total overhaul of the cabinet under the four-term ex-chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as most of the key faces remained the same over the years. Some such big names might find themselves out. The BJP had given tickets to maximum of its MLAs and ministers dropping only 27 including two ministers from the 2018 batch. Though a dozen ministers lost the polls including the powerful ex-home minister Narottam Mishra, there are over 20 from the outgoing cabinet who would be in the contention for a post in the cabinet.
Of them, three have already been made chief minister and his deputies. Ex-chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself is out of contention for a cabinet post. Madhya Pradesh assembly with 230 seats has a maximum provision of 35 ministers including the chief minister. So now 32 berths are vacant and contenders are multiple.
Most of the other senior ministers like Gopal Bhargava, Bhupendra Singh, Govind Rajput, Vijay Shah, Bisahulal Singh, Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Prabhuram Choudhary, Brijendra Pratap Singh, Meena Singh and others will be seeking their share of power. Jayant Malaiya who lost last time; Ajay Vishnoi and Sanjay Pathak who was not included in the cabinet are also among strong contenders.
There are many other MLAs who have won multiple times but are yet to get place in the cabinet and their aspirations will also have to be considered. Ramesh Mendola and Malini Gaur of Indore, Gayatri Raje Pawar of Dewas, Rameshwar Sharma and Krishna Gaur of Bhopal, Ashok Rohani of Jabalpur are among such names.
Among the newly elected MLAs, the chances of induction of Preetam Lodhi from Picchore and Rajesh Sonkar from Sonkutch look bright. But the party will first have to decide about the roles of senior leaders like former union minister Prahlad Patel and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya before making any decision about the cabinet composition.
Former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been nominated for the post of speaker while another Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste lost the assembly polls. Also, ex-members of parliament Riti Pathak, Rao Uday Pratap Singh must be looking for big roles though another MP in fray – Ganesh Singh – lost the polls.
Sources said that after local level discussion on the cabinet composition, chief minister Yadav, BJP state chief V.D. Sharma and organisation general secretary Hitanand will be going to Delhi to discuss the names with the top leadership, who will clear the names of the new ministers. The exercise is likely to take some time.
