BY IANS,
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday inducted nine more ministers into his council of ministers while one minister of state was promoted to cabinet rank. One legislator, who was to take oath, could not make it to the ceremony.
Ten ministers were sworn in by Governor Rameshwar Thakur here.
Those administered oath as cabinet ministers were Uma Shankar Gupta, Ajay Vishnoi, Narottam Mishra, Vijay Shah and former MP Sartaj Singh. Minister of state Karan Singh Verma was promoted as a cabinet minister.
Brijendra Pratap Singh, Manohar Utwal, Nana Mahod and Mahendra Hardia were sworn in as ministers of state.
Legislator Jaisingh Marawi, who was to be made a minister of state, could not reach Raj Bhawan in time.
“He got the message of being included a little late, and thus could not reach in time,” a source close to Marawi said.
Though the party leadership had reservations about inducting first-time legislators into the council of ministers, Pratap Singh, Utwala and Hardia managed to get ministerial berths.
Chouhan told reporters Tuesday that no first-time legislators would be included in the cabinet.
“The legislators elected for the first time will not be inducted in the ministry,” he said.
The BJP has 144 legislators in the 230-member house and with the latest expansion, the number of ministers has risen to 32.