Of the 22 Congress deputies who joined the BJP, 14 were appointed ministers
Bhopal:
The expansion of Shivraj Singh’s ministry – where part of the bunks went to Jyotiraditya Scindia camp – highlighted the first cracks within the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Before the end of the day, supporters of a number of ministry candidates held statewide protests, demanding that their leaders be accommodated in the ministry, and veteran party leader Uma Bharati wrote to the party’s state president, VD Sharma, claiming that his suggestions had been completely ignored.
It was Mr. Scindia’s defection from Congress with 22 MPs who overthrew the government of Congress led by Kamal Nath and gave the BJP another shot at power. But the new arrivals’ request for a reward – at least 11 berths – was not accepted by established BJP leaders. Even the chief minister made it clear that he was not happy to let go of part of his loyalist team.
Uma Bharati, former chief minister of state, has another round of grievances. In her letter, which was also sent to the party’s organizational secretary, Suhas Bhagat and Vinay Sahasrabudhe, the BJP parliamentarian in charge of state unity, she said that the list of ministers should be changed because it did not give an appropriate representation in terms of region or caste.
Ms. Bhaarti wanted the inclusion of MPs from the Bundelkhand region and her Lodhi OBC caste, which is a major polling bank in the Bundelkhand and Central Madhya Pradesh.
The 33-member cabinet has eight Thakurs, three Brahmins, one Kayastha, one Sikh, four ministers from the listed tribes, four from the listed castes.
Supporters of various ministry hopes, on the other hand, vented their anger on the streets.
In Mandsaur, supporters of local BJP deputy Yashpal Singh Sisodiya sat on Dharna, demanding that their leader be accommodated in the ministry.
The exclusion of Ramesh Mendola was seen as a political defeat for Kailash Vijayvargiya, who was seen as a strong opponent of Jyotiraditya Scindia since he was in Congress. His supporters also took to the streets.
In Dewas, supporters of Gayatri Raje Pawar held demonstrations.
Of the 22 congressmen who joined the BJP, 14 were appointed ministers. Of these, 10 are ministers and four are ministers of state. With a cabinet strength of 34, almost 41% of the ministers are former members of Congress and 59% are from the BJP.
Of the 34 ministers of the state, 14 are from Congress, 11 are loyalists from Jyotiraditya Scindia. Not all 14 are MPs – probably a first in state history.
The hand of central management was quite visible in the expansion, the chief minister having failed to defend his point of view to induct most of his team.
Mr. Chouhan clearly expressed his feelings on Wednesday, saying “Manthan se toh amrit hi nikalta hai, vish toh Shiv pee jaatein hain (churning only gives nectar, the poison is drunk by Shiv)” in a reference to his name .
