Ahead of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh later this year, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expanded his cabinet on Saturday, August 26, by inducting three MLAs as ministers. BJP MLAs Gaurishankar Bisen, Rajendra Shukla and Rahul Lodhi took oath at the Raj Bhavan in Bhopal. With this, there are now 34 members in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet.

Rajendra Shukla, who took oath as a Cabinet minister, is a four-time MLA from Rewa in the Vindh region. Meanwhile, Gaurishankar Bisen is the chairman of the MP Backward Class Commission. The 71-year-old is a seven-time legislator from Balaghat in the Mahakoshal region.

First-time MLA Rahul Lodhi is the nephew of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti. He won the seat from Kharagpur in Bundelkhand’s Tikamgarh district and has been allocated the post of Minister of State. A source told PTI that the portfolios are yet to be allocated to the three ministers.

According to a News18 report, the inclusion of the ministers was done at the behest of the BJP’s central leadership. The move is expected to balance caste equations, reduce the anti-incumbency factor and address regional aspirations ahead of the polls. The last cabinet expansion was done in March 2021.

Gaurishankar Bisen and Rahul Lodhi belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, which comprises over 45 per cent of the state’s population.

The inclusion of Rajendra Shukla increases the number of ministers from Madhya Pradesh’s Vindh region to four. The induction of Lodhi means that there are now five ministers from the Bundelkhand region. Gaurishankar Bisen’s induction raises the ministers from the Mahakoshal region to two.

Former MP Minister Jalam Singh, who is the younger brother of Union Minister Prahlad Patel and Lalsingh Arya, the president of the BJP SC Morcha, was rumoured to join Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet earlier, but they could not make the cut, as per PTI.

The last assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh were held in November 2018. The Congress party won the polls and Kamal Nath became the chief minister. The government was brought down in March 2020 after MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia revolted. Shivraj Singh Chouhan then came to power as the chief minister for the fourth time.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)