TNW, New Delhi, July 13: After running the government alone for 29 days between March 23 and April 21, the Madhya Pardesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expanded his cabinet further with 28 new Minister took oath on July 2. Now the strength of his cabinet reaches 33. However, it took him ten days to finally allot the portfolio on July 12.
Political circle are abuzz with the news that Joytiraditya Scindia has managed to get his own pound of flesh as several of his loyalists have got important ministerial berths: Govind Singh Rajput has got the Revenue and Transport Ministry, Imarti Devi got Women and Child Development Ministry, Pardumna Singh Tomar got Energy Ministry while Mahendra Singh Sisodiya got the Panchayat and Rural Development Ministry.
On the other hand, some of the prominent portfolios which gone to the leaders of BJP camps are: Yashodhara Raje Scindia got the Sport and Youth Welfare as well as Technical Education and Employment Ministry, Usha Thakur got the Tourism and Culture Ministry, Kamal Patel got the Agriculture Ministry, Jagdish Devda got the Finance and Commercial Tax Ministry while Bhupendra Singh got the Urban Development Ministry.
But CM Chouhan had to do a lot of tightrope walking while distributing portfolios. Now the Problem with Chouhan is that several of his old and loyalist MLAs could not be accommodated. They are sulking over the way the things are moving ahead.
Incidentally in the first one month, the Chouhan government had no health minister and the health secretary was also suffering from Corona Virus. This was the situation when Indore, the home city of previous health minister, was among the worst hit districts of India.
