MP Shivraj Singh Chouhan MP and BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. (ANI / File)
Eleven days after expanding his cabinet to recruit 28 ministers, Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan finally assigned portfolios on Monday, giving due importance to ministers in the Jyotiraditya Scindia camp.
The exercise took so long because Scindia wanted key portfolios for its loyalists and there were many more BJP applicants, including those who were ministers in their previous cabinets between 2005 and 2018.
Scindia’s loyalists, Govind Singh Rajput, obtained the important portfolios of income and transportation, and Dr. Prabhuram Chaudhary obtained the health portfolio. Pradyumna Singh Tomar and Imarti Devi obtained energy and development from women and children respectively.
The top BJP leaders Gopal Bhargava and Jagdish Devda obtained PWD and Finance respectively. The important housing portfolio remains with Narottam Mishra. He had to separate from the health portfolio, but he got laws, jails, and parliamentary affairs as additional responsibilities.
Scindia’s loyalist, Tulsiram Silawat, one of the two Scindian loyalists to be included in the first expansion on April 21, retained the water resources portfolio.
Although some high-ranking BJP leaders obtained important portfolios, they will have to work together with the ministers of state, who belong to the Scindia camp.
Chouhan worked alone from March 23 to April 21, when five ministers were recruited. The next expansion occurred on July 2. Scindia’s camp has disproportionate representation in the ministry, a reward for overthrowing the congressional government in March.
In the 34-member cabinet, up to 14 are former congressional legislators who will have to contest the polls to validate their tenure. The BJP has 107 MLAs, but only 20 of them could make it to the ministry. Up to 14 of the 22 former members of Congress are now ministers.
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