BHOPAL, Dec 21: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today expanded his ministry with the induction of 19 cabinet ministers and four ministers of state.
Chouhan took oath as the Chief Minister for the third time on December 14, following BJP’s thumping victory in the assembly elections.
The cabinet ministers who were sworn in today included three women: Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Maya Singh and Kusum Mehdele.
Mehdele was a minister earlier. She lost in the 2008 assembly elections by a margin of only 47 votes, but this time she was elected for the fifth time.
Scindia is currently MP from Gwalior. Another Lok Sabha member in the cabinet is Bhupendra Singh (Sagar MP), while Maya Singh is currently a Rajya Sabha member.
Archana Chitnis and Ranjana Baghel, the two women ministers in the previous ministry, were dropped.
Apart from Maya Singh and Bhupendra Singh, the only other new face in the Council of Ministers is Gyan Singh.
Relatives of two former Chief Ministers have been inducted as Ministers of State: Deepak Joshi, the son of former Chief Minister Kailash Joshi and Surendra Patwa, nephew of former Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa.
Deepak was elected to the assembly for the second time from Haatpipaliya while Surendra Patwa defeated senior Congress leader Suresh Pachouri from Bhojpur.
The other two ministers of state are Lal Singh Arya and Sharad Jain.
Among the Cabinet Ministers who were sworn-in today is former Chief Minister Babulal Gaur who won from the Govindpura constituency in Bhopal for a record successive 10th time.
The others who were inducted as cabinet ministers are: Jayant Malaiya, Gopal Bhargava, Dr Gauri Shanker Shejwar, Kailash Vijayawargiya, Sartaj Singh, Narottam Mishra, Vijay Shah, Gauri Shanker Bisen, Umashankar Gupta, Paras Jain, Rajendra Shukla, Antar Singh Arya and Rampal Singh. (PTI)
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