Three former members of Congress also obtained ministerial posts in the Shivraj Chouhan cabinet
Bhopal:
The expansion of Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet, followed by the formation of multiple cracks within the BJP, clearly favored Jyotiraditya Scindia. The 49-year-old man – one of Madhya Pradesh’s top congressional leaders – had joined the BJP in March with 22 of his supporters, leading to the collapse of Kamal Nath’s government.
But his success in obtaining the support of the senior management of the BJP for 11 ministerial posts for his assistants, provoked a kind of rebellion in the ranks of the BJP. By the end of the day, supporters of at least three ministry hopefuls had taken to the streets to protest and veteran BJP chief and former chief minister Uma Bharati wrote a letter to senior state officials, claiming that his suggestions for the composition of the ministry had been ignored.
State policy observers have speculated on how the rivalry between Mr. Chouhan and Mr. Scindia would unfold. At a rally to welcome the newcomer, the Prime Minister compared him to “Bibhishan” – Ravaan’s brother in Ramayan, accused of turning on his family.
In the past 100 days, Mr. Scindia’s supporters and congressional leaders who joined the BJP have benefited the most. Of the 22 congressmen who joined the BJP, 14 were appointed ministers. Of these, 10 are ministers and four are ministers of state. The BJP has 20 ministers.
Kamal Nath’s government included six supporters of Scindia. In Mr. Chouhan’s office, Mr. Scindia has 11 ministers. Three former members of Congress also obtained ministerial positions.
Mr. Scindia’s success has meant that 11 of the ministers are from the Gwalior-Chambal region, where the party did the worst in the 2018 elections. Although that would help in the next by-passes – 16 of the 24 seats come from the Gwalior-Chambal region – this will not please the leaders of the MahaKoshal and Vindhya region, which was swept away by the BJP in the 2018 polls, but still remains underrepresented. Only one minister, Khelawan Patel, is from the region.
Nine of the ministers are from the Malwa-Nimar region, which shows that the BJP wanted to regain its lost ground in the belt once considered the nursery of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the party. Five seats in the by-elections will come from the Malwa-Nimar region.
Uma Bharti wanted the inclusion of MPs from the Bundelkhand region and his Lodhi OBC caste, which is a major polling bank in the Bundelkhand and central Madhya Pradesh.
The hand of central management was clearly visible in the expansion. Not only did the chief minister fail to put forward his point of view on the enthronement of most of his team, but his archiciter Kamal Patel was inducted as cabinet minister and received the department of agriculture when the ministry first expanded in April. Now his close associates like Rampal Singh, Rajendra Shukla, Paras Jain, Gauri Shankar Bisen have been left out – in a clear message that his grip is loosening.
