Cabinet expansions in both Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are likely to happen very soon, chief ministers of both states have told reporters on Monday.
The statements of MP CM Mohan Yadav and Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai came after they returned from Delhi where high-level meetings were held on Sunday evening to finalise the names to be included in the cabinets.
While Yadav only briefly said the expansion would be done soon, Sai also added that a mix of new and old faces was likely in the cabinet. The meetings in Delhi were held in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J.P. Nadda. Apart from Yadav and Sai, their respective deputies – Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla and Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma—were present in the meeting, apart from other senior leaders.
It is expected that the party's central leadership will try to balance out new MLAs with old and experienced ones, though the focus might be on new faces.
Former Union ministers and members of parliament who have won as MLAs in both states – like Prahlad Singh Patel, Riti Pathak and Rao Uday Pratap Singh in Madhya Pradesh and Renuka Singh in Chhattisgarh—are almost certain to find a place in the respective cabinets. BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya is also a most likely face in the cabinet. Former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar is to be the new assembly speaker in Madhya Pradesh as the opposition Congress decided to support him for the post.
The only thing that remains to be seen is whether the expansions come during or after the first assembly sessions of the both states. The assembly session in MP started on Monday and will continue till December 21, while the Chhattisgarh assembly will convene on December 19 and also continue till December 21.
There is a barrage of ministerial aspirants in Madhya Pradesh. Though a dozen ministers, including former home minister Narottam Mishra lost in the recent polls, 19 ministers have been reelected. Three of them are already a chief minister and deputy chief ministers. This leaves 16 former ministers in the fray, apart from those seniors who could not be included in the cabinet last time. Several new faces are certain to get to the cabinet, along with the former union ministers and MPs. As there are only 31 ministerial posts available now, it will be interesting to see who all make the cut.
In Chhattisgarh, the mostly likely names are Brijmohan Agrawal, Vikram Usendi, Kedar Kashyap, Ramvichar Netam, Ajay Chandrakar, Dharamlal Kaushik, Amar Agrawal, O.P. Chaudhary, Rajesh Munat, Renuka Singh and Domanlal Kosewada.
Shivraj likely to get new responsibility
Meanwhile, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been summoned to Delhi by party president Nadda and is likely to get some new responsibility soon. Chouhan will be going to Delhi on Tuesday to meet Nadda at noon. This will be the first visit of Chouhan to Delhi after the huge win of BJP in Madhya Pradesh.
Nadda had said last week that Chouhan would be given responsibility in accordance with his stature and his experience would be well utilized. There are speculations that Chouhan might be included in the Union cabinet and later asked to contest Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha. Whether he is offered a governor post is also a matter of speculation.