Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Chouhan expands his cabinet ahead of elections

On August 26, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the first cabinet expansion of his fourth term in office, inducting three ministers from around the state. Rewa MLA Rajendra Shukla, Balaghat MLA Gauri Shankar Bisen, and Khargapur MLA Rahul Singh Lodhi were all sworn in by Governor Mangubhai Patel. Lodhi was appointed minister of state, while Shukla and Bisen were made cabinet ministers.

Chouhan was sworn in as chief minister in March 2020, following the resignation of the Kamal Nath cabinet due to the defection of 22 Congress MLAs to the BJP in a rebellion led by Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Madhya Pradesh cabinet expansion: Why is it significant?

The August 26 expansion is politically significant on multiple levels. One, it comes just over two months before the state's assembly elections in November. Second, filling cabinet positions was not conventional since Congress MLAs who had defected to the BJP had to be accommodated. This accommodation of former Congress MLAs resulted in the exclusion of a number of BJP veterans, particularly Chouhan supporters, from the cabinet, resulting in a regional and caste imbalance. Prior to August 26, 11 of the 31-member cabinet were former Congress MLAs who had joined the BJP.

What is the goal of the MP cabinet expansion?

Political observers believe the cabinet expansion ahead of elections is simply symbolic, as the newly appointed ministers will have little time to achieve results. The model code of conduct will likely be in effect by the first week of October, giving the ministers only a month and a half in office. Two of the three new ministers, Shukla and Bisen, are Chouhan loyalists. Their inclusion points to rewarding loyalty and correcting the 'injustice' to them when they were not included in 2020 owing to political compulsions of including the Scindia faction.

Shukla is also from the Vindhya region, where the BJP performed exceptionally well in the 2018 assembly election. However, the cabinet sworn in 2020 included only one regional minister. It was later that BJP MLA Girish Gautam was sworn in as legislative assembly speaker in an attempt to redress the imbalance.

Bisen is from Balaghat in the Mahakoshal area. Chouhan has put importance on loyalty and the Mahakoshal region, which is viewed as state Congress chief Kamal Nath's bastion. Chouhan also reached out to another loyalist, Rampal Singh, who was appointed head of the Antyodaya Committee, a largely ceremonial role with cabinet rank.

Lodhi is BJP leader Uma Bharti's nephew and a second-term MLA from Khargapur in Bundelkhand. By including him, it appears Chouhan wants to enlist the support of Bharti and by extension, the Lodhi community. The Lodhis are present in substantial numbers in Bundelkhand and the Gwalior-Chambal regions.

2023 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly election is slated to be held later this year. The state is all set to see a tight electoral contest between the ruling BJP and the Congress. In the last assembly elections in 2018, the Congress had stormed to power in the state and Kamal Nath was sworn in as the chief minister.

However, fifteen months later, stumped by the rebellion of party colleague Jyodiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP and the resignations of 22 Congress MLAs, Kamal Nath had stepped down from the CM post, following which BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan returned as the CM of the state for the fourth time.