Shivraj Singh Chouhan includes nine more ministers in Cabinet

Amid day-long speculations of dropping elderly ministers including Babulal Gaur, Sartaj Singh and Kusum Mahdele, state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday included nine more ministers in his Cabinet. The much-awaited Cabinet expansion included four cabinet and five state ministers. At present, there are nineteen Cabinet and four state ministers in Chouhan's Cabinet. 

Those who have been inducted in the ministry are Omprakash Dhruve, Rustam Singh, Archana Chitnis and Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, while those who took oath of office and secrecy as state ministers include Surya Prakash Mina, Vishwas Sarang, Lalita Yadav, Harsh Singh and Sanjay Pathak. Ailing and octogenarian governor Ramnaresh Yadav administered them the oath of office here today at Raj Bhawan. He was discharged from a local private hospital on Wednesday. 

Rustam Singh, an ex-Indian Police Service officer, was Panchayat and Rural Development Minister in the BJP's previous government, while Archana Chitnis was school education minister. Singh faced allegations of demanding dowry and thrashing toll-tax booth workers a few years back. Singh is an MLA from Morena, while Chitnis comes from Burhanpur constituency.

Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya is a known critic of the Scindias, who is pitted against Yashodhara’s nephew and sitting Congress MP Jyotiraditya, but lost in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, he had won the 2013 state assembly seat from Gwalior.

It was a long wait for many second-time MLAs like Vishwas Sarang. 

Chouhan had met party leaders in Delhi on Wednesday. The probable names were discussed in a meeting held at BJP national president Amit Shah’s residence in the presence of BJP national general secretary Ramlal and state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.