By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: In the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, wherein Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), retained power in the just concluded elections Governor Dr. Balram Jakhar administered oath of office and secrecy to 22 members of the state cabinet at a function here on Saturday.
These include 14 ministers and eight ministers of state. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who had taken oath alone for the second term on December 12, was present on the occasion amongst others. The oath-taking ceremony was conducted by Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni.
Governor Dr. Jakhar administered oath of office and secrecy to Babulal Gaur, Raghavji, Jayant Malaiya, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Gopal Bhargava, Anup Mishra, Jagdish Deora, Laxmikant Sharma, Nagendra Singh, Mrs. Archana Chitnis, Jagannath Singh, Dr. Ramkrishna Kusmaria, Gauri Shankar Chaturbhuj Bisen and Tukojirao Puar as cabinet ministers. While Karan Singh Verma, Paras Jain, Narayan Singh Kushwaha, Mrs. Ranjana Baghel, Rajendra Shukla, Kanhaiyya Lal Agrawal, Harishankar Khatik and Devi Singh Saryam took oath as ministers of state.
Those present at the installation ceremony included Chief Minister Shivraj Singh’s wife Mrs. Sadhana Singh, National General Secretary of BJP Ananth Kumar, State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar, former chief minister Kailash Joshi, State Congress president Suresh Pachauri, Member of Parliament Satyanarayan Jatia, MLAs, chairmen and vice-chairmen of boards/corporations, senior officers of administration and police, distinguished citizens and social workers.
It may be mentioned here that the BJP retained power in Madhya Pradesh by bagging 143 of the 230 seats in the state legislative assembly polls which were conducted November 27 last. The election results were announced December 8.
Chouhan talking to reporters after the oath-ceremony claimed that the cabinet is balanced. “It has been formed keeping in mind the regional balance and caste equations. Efforts have been made to give representation to all the regions and castes in the state,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, supporters of those MLAs who did not get berths generated a pandemonium at the BJP’s state office.