On Tuesday, 21 April, five ministers took oath in the first expansion of the council of ministers in Madhya Pradesh, a month after Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn in as chief minister.
The five, including a woman and two ex-MLAs, were sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at a simple function in the Raj Bhawan amid the nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was present at the ceremony too and allocated the portfolios. Narottam Mishra was allocated Home and Health Department, Kamal Patel has been made Agriculture Minister and Tulsi Silawat has been given Water Resources Department.
Govind Singh Rajput has been made Food Processing Minister & Meena Singh has been given Tribal Welfare Department.
Earlier in the day, Chouhan expanded the state Cabinet, nearly a month after taking oath as the chief minister for the fourth time following the fall of the Congress-led Kamal Nath government in the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Narottam Mishra, Kamal Patel, Meena Singh, Tulsi Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput took oath as ministers, at the state Cabinet expansion ceremony in Bhopal.
The Cabinet had not been expanded since Chouhan took oath as chief minister on 23 March amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
“Since 23 March, Chouhan has served as the lone member of Cabinet for the 28 days, which is a record of sorts in the country,” BJP sources told PTI.
Opposition Congress had been slamming Chouhan and the BJP over the absence of a council of ministers at a time when the state is battling a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal and Vivek Tankha on Monday had petitioned before President Ram Nath Kovind, arguing that the Chouhan government in its current state is unconstitutional.
The Opposition had also slammed the absence of a full-time health minister in Madhya Pradesh amidst the coronavirus crisis.
For the BJP, it will be a tightrope walk to accommodate six loyalists of former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who had joined the BJP. All six were ministers in the erstwhile Kamal Nath government.
Besides the then six ministers, 16 other MLAs of the Congress had also resigned from the party, which eventually culminated in the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)