The portfolio allocations of Mohan Yadav cabinet in Madhya Pradesh, undertaken late on Saturday night, seeks to balance power equations between the big names in the ministry, but it is clear that the chief minister himself will have a clear edge as he has kept the home department for himself – a first for a BJP CM in the state.
Apart from home, Yadav has also retained the General Administration Department (GAD), Public Relations, Jails, Mining, Aviation, Industrial Policies and Investment Promotion, and all other departments not assigned to any minister.
Though Yadav came as a surprise choice for the CM post in Madhya Pradesh, it becomes clear with the portfolio allocations that the BJP higher ups want to play upon his Hindutva image in the governance of the major Hindi heartland state, in line with Yogi Adityanath in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
Adityanath also has the home portfolio and his handling of the law and order situation in UP with a tough hand and especially his bulldozer action has been a matter of discussion in the country.
By keeping the home department—on the background of his initial decisions that include removal of illegal loudspeakers from religious places and ban on sale of meat, fish and eggs in the open—Yadav is also seeking to send signals regarding the political way the government is likely to adopt in Madhya Pradesh in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the party has taken care to ensure that the prominent names in the Yadav ministry have been given roles suiting their stature. Deputy CM Jagdish Devda has retained the finance and commercial tax departments, which he had held during the previous Shivraj Singh Chouhan led government.
Rajendra Shukla, the other deputy CM, has got the public health and medical education departments with big budgets and directly dealing with public welfare.
Former union minister Prahlad Patel has been allotted panchayat and rural development – a key department in Madhya Pradesh that has a huge rural population. Senior leader Kailash Vijayvargiya was given urban development and housing – a department he held in the Uma Bharti cabinet in 2003. The department assumes importance in view of the Simhastha to be held in Ujjain in 2008. He has also got the parliamentary affairs portfolio, given his experience.
Former MP from Jabalpur and ex-president of state BJP, Rakesh Singh, will handle the Public Works Department (PWD) – also important in view of the development of the state. Another ex-MP Rao Udai Pratap Singh will look after transport and school education department – both with huge budgets. The transport department is also considered a lucrative portfolio.
Three ministers in the former Chouhan cabinet have retained their portfolios. They include Jyotiraditya Scindia supporters Tulsiram Silawat with water resources and Pradhuman Singh Tomar with energy apart from deputy CM Devda with finance. However, another Scindia supporter Govind Singh Rajput has to make do with food and civil supplies though he held key departments like transport and revenue in the last term.
Senior MLA Vijay Shah has been allocated the tribal affairs, public assets management and Bhopal gas tragedy departments. He has been a forest minister in earlier terms. Vishvas Sarang who was medical education minister has now got sports, youth affairs and cooperatives while Inder Singh Parmar who was school education minister has now been given higher education, Ayush, technical education and skill development departments.
Senior MLA Karan Singh Verma , who has been minister earlier twice, got the revenue portfolio again while Aidal Singh Kansana who was a minister for a brief period in 2020 has got farmers welfare and agricultural development. Nirmala Bhura, who was also a minister earlier, has now been given the women and child development portfolio.
Among the new faces as cabinet ministers, ex-Rajya Sabha member Sampatiya Uikey has been allotted Public Health Engineering (PHE); Narayan Singh Kushwaha - social justice, horticulture and food Processing; Nagar Singh Chouhan - forest, environment and SC welfare; Rakesh Shukla - renewable energy and Chaitanya Kashyap - micro, small and medium Enterprises
Among the ministers of state with independent charge, Krishna Gaur has got backward class and minority, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes welfare; Dharmendra Lodhi – culture, tourism and religious endowments; Dilip Jaiswal – cottage and rural industries; Lakhan Patel – animal husbandry and dairy; Narayan Singh Panwar – fisheries and fishermen welfare and Gautam Tetwal – technical education, skill development and employment.
Among the ministers of state, Narendra Shivaji Patel has been given public health and family welfare; Pratima Bagri – urban development and housing; Radha Singh – panchayat and rural development and Dileep Ahirwar – forests and environment.