Claiming that the Cabinet expansion would take place soon, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that it would be after tomorrow (July 1). He was talking to media persons on Tuesday evening at the BJP State headquarters, after attending a meeting with the State president of the party.
After spending a couple of days deliberating upon names to be included in his Cabinet at New Delhi with senior leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party executive president JP Nadda, Chouhan returned to Bhopal on Tuesday.
Since, the programme of Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel has been finalized that she would arrive here at around 3.30 pm today and Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh would administer her oath of Madhya Pradesh Governor at around 4.30 pm, it is believed that the Cabinet expansion would take place on July 02.
Interestingly, the Chief Minister did not interact to the media upon his return and immersed himself in the meetings at Mantralaya.
The Cabinet expansion was scheduled for Tuesday as senior leader Jyotiraditya Sindhiya and Governor in charge Anandiben Patel were to reach Bhopal but both of them deferred their arrival in the State capital.
Sources claimed that some of the names to be included in Cabinet, have been cleared by the party high command but consensus reportedly to be resolved on the proposed plans of not including several party leaders in the Cabinet, at least till the assembly by-polls are over.
Reports suggest that the party state unit plans to exclude several senior party leaders who have been ministers in the last three terms of the BJP Government in the State.
This is perhaps the reason several party seniors seemed in discomfort in the last few weeks.
Sources claim that the BJP organisation is under pressure to accommodate all the Congress MLA is who had switched over to BJP in March this year paving the way for BJP return to power. This will obviously leave several BJP seniors out of cabinet. However, saying the unease in it's own camp, the BJP plans to convince some of the new entrants into the party to for ministerial berths till assembly bypolls.
