Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday allocated the portfolios of three newly-inducted ministers to the state cabinet. This comes days after three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs namely Rajendra Shukla, Gaurishankar Bisen and Rahul Lodhi were administered the oath of office as ministers on August 26.
Allocation of portfolios:
- Rajendra Shukla: Public Health Engineering and Public Relations
- Gaurishankar Bisen: Narmada Valley Development
- Rahul Lodhi: Cottage and village industries and forests (Independent Charge)
Cabinet expansion ahead of Assembly election
Shukla, a Brahmin leader and four-time MLA from Rewa in the Vindh region was a former minister. Bisen, a seven-time legislator from Balaghat in the Mahakoshal region, is also the chairman of the MP Backward Class Commission, while Lodhi is a first-time MLA from Kharagpur in Tikamgarh district of the Bundelkhand region. With their induction, there are now 34 members in the Chouhan-led cabinet. As per the constitutional provisions, the number could go up to 35.
The inclusion of Shukla into the cabinet takes the number of ministers from the state's Vindh region to four, while Bisen's induction takes this count from the Mahakoshal region to two. With Lodhi's induction, the number of ministers from the impoverished Bundelkhand region has increased to five.
As per the BJP sources, cabinet expansion was carried out on the recommendation of the party's central leadership to beat anti-incumbency, balance caste equations and address regional aspirations. The last expansion of the Chouhan cabinet took place in January 2021, months after he returned as the state chief minister for the fourth term.
MP Assembly election
It should be mentioned here that Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled to be held at the end of this year to elect all 230 members in Madhya Pradesh. The tenure of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end in January 2024.
(With PTI inputs)
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