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Six new Ministers in Madhya Pradesh Cabinet

Photo: A.M.Faruqui.

Swearing in ceremony: Madhya Pradesh Governor Balram Jakhar administering oath to the five new Cabinet Ministers, Gauri Shankar Shejwar, Laxmikant Sharma, Nagendra Singh, Akhand Pratap Singh and Laxman Singh Gaud, at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal on Saturday.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Council of Ministers was expanded on Saturday with the induction of six new Ministers, three of them in the Cabinet rank and three Ministers of State. Two Ministers of State have also been promoted to the Cabinet rank.

The size of the Shivraj Singh Chauhan Ministry has now gone up to 32.

The Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Governor, Balram Jakhar, at a largely attended swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhawan on Saturday afternoon.

The newly inducted Cabinet Ministers are Gauri Shankar Shejwar, Akhand Pratap Singh and Laxman Singh Gaud. Those promoted to the Cabinet rank are the Minister of State for Culture, Laxmikant Sharma and the Minister of State for Home, Nagendra Singh.

Dr. Shejwar, who has been re-inducted into the Cabinet, was earlier suspended from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party due to his open support to the former Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janshakti chief, Uma Bharti

The newly inducted Ministers of State are Karan Singh Verma, Ranjana Baghel and Harender Jeet Singh ‘Babbu’.

Talking to media-persons after the swearing-in, Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that that it was a collective decision to induct the new Ministers. He said that it would be wrong to say that three ministerial posts were still vacant. He said that the “15 per cent rule” only defines the maximum size of the ministry and there is no hard and fast rule to fix the size of the State Council of Ministers.

When asked what had been the criteria for picking the new Ministers, the Chief Minister said that there were many capable legislators and some of them have been inducted as Ministers. The portfolio allocation would be done later, he added.

The BJP General Secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs, Ananth Kumar, who reached here on Friday, was engaged in prolonged consultations with the Chief Minister.

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Six new Ministers in Madhya Pradesh Cabinet

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