Three new Ministers were inducted into Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Cabinet in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, an exercise seen as an attempt to balance caste and regional equations ahead of polls due in the State in around 100 days.
Among the three new faces to be sworn-in are Gaurishankar Bisen and Rajendra Shukla, both former Ministers and MLAs for multiple terms. The third, Rahul Lodhi, a first-time MLA, is a nephew of former Chief Minister Uma Bharti, and is referred to as her political successor.
While all three leaders played down the relatively short tenure they would have, sources in the ruling BJP said the last-minute exercise has been carried out with an eye on 94 seats in the Vindhya, Mahakoshal and Bundelkhand regions of the State. Mr. Chouhan’s Cabinet of 31 ministers before Saturday’s mini-expansion had 20 Ministers from the Gwalior-Chambal and Malwa-Nimar regions put together, and had not been expanded since 2020.
