By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: The long awaited cabinet expansion in Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), ruled Madhya Pradesh came about today at last when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inducted six new ministers and promoted two others to the cabinet rank.
Governor Balram Jakhar administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers in the presence of the Chief Minister and his other cabinet colleagues and Opposition party members.
The six new faces included three cabinet and three ministers of state. The new cabinet ministers are Dr. Gaurishankar Shejwar, Laxman Singh Gaud and Akhand Pratap Singh. The two sitting ministers of state, Nagendra Singh and Laxmikant Sharma were elevated to the cabinet.
The three new ministers of state are Karan Singh Verma, Ranjana Baghel and Harinder Singh Babbu.
Chouhan has struck a fine regional balance while expanding his cabinet. Speaking to newspersons immediately after the swearing-in ceremony Chouhan said that he has tried to give representation to all the nine divisions of the state in the expansion of the state cabinet.
With the expansion today the total number of ministers in the Chouhan cabinet is now 32. There is still three berth to be filled up. Kailash Chawla, a former minister in Patwa ministry in 1990-92, who was being tipped to be inducted and missed the bus was also present during the swearing-in ceremony
It may be pointed out here that with the induction of Dr. Gaurishankar Shejwar, who parted ways with former state Chief Minister Uma Bharti, the BJP has tried to contain the impact of Bharti’s Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS) in the next assembly elections due in November 2008. ([email protected])