MP: Vijayvargiya, Prahlad Patel among 28 ministers sworn-in

As many as 28 legislators, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were on Monday inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

A total of 18 MLAs took oath as cabinet ministers, while 10 others were sworn in as ministers of state including six with independent charge.

The new inductees were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Mangubhai Patel at a function held in Raj Bhavan in Bhopal.

The new cabinet includes 17 fresh faces. While five among 28 ministers are women, 12 come from the OBC community, five are tribals and four others are from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, a BJP functionary said. Four loyalists of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also found a place in the new council of ministers.

Those who took oath as cabinet ministers are -- Vijay Shah, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Prahlad Patel, Karan Singh Verma, Rakesh Singh, Uday Pratap Singh, Sampatia Uikey, Tulsiram Silawat, Aidal Singh Kansana, Govind Singh Rajput, Vishvas Sarang, Nirmala Bhuria, Narayan Singh Kushawaha, Nagar Singh Chouhan, Pradyumna Singh Tomar, Rakesh Shukla, Chaitanya Kashyap and Inder Singh Parmar.

The ministers of state with independent charge are Krishna Gaur, Dharmendra Bhav Lodhi, Dilip Jaiswal, Gautam Tetwal, Lakhan Patel and Narayan Singh Pawar.

The other MLAs who took oath as ministers of state are Narendra Shivaji Patel, Pratima Bagri, Dilip Ahirwar, and Radha Singh, the official said.

Five women inductees are Sampatia Uikey, Nirmala Bhuria, Krishna Gaur, Pratima Bagri and Radha Singh.

Vijayvargiya, elected as MLA from Indore-1 seat in this assembly elections, had served as a minister in the BJP government from 2004 to 2016 before he resigned to join national politics. He didn't contest the polls in 2018.

Prahlad Patel, who was serving as a Union minister before he was asked to contest elections in November, won his maiden assembly poll from the Narsinghpur seat.

BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said 17 out of 28 MLAs inducted in the new cabinet are new faces. 11 others had served as ministers in Madhya Pradesh in different periods in the past.

The former ministers include Vijay Shah, Karan Singh Verma, Tulsiram Silawat, Aidal Singh Kansana, Govind Rajput, Narayan Singh Kushwaha, Vishwas Sarang, Pradyuman Singh Tomar, Inder Singh Parmar and Nirmala Bhuria, apart from Vijayvargiya.

Among them, Narayan Singh Kushwaha had served as a minister of state in the past. He had lost the previous 2018 assembly elections. Karan Singh Verma was a minister between 2004 to 2013.

The new cabinet includes four loyalists -- Aidal Singh Kansana, Govind Rajput, Pradyuman Singh Tomar and Tulsiram Silavat -- of Jyotiraditya Scindia.

They were among the 22 MLAs of Congress who defected to the BJP leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in March 2020.

The new cabinet includes 12 members of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), five from Scheduled Tribe (ST) while four belong to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, Rajneesh Agrawal said.

"This is an effort to prove 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas," he added.

With the induction of 28 ministers, the total strength of the Yadav cabinet has now gone up to 31, including the chief minister and his two deputies Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda.

The BJP had fielded seven MPs, including three Union ministers, in the assembly elections held last month. Two of them, including Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste and Satna MP Ganesh Singh, faced defeat.

While former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been made speaker of the MP assembly, three MPs, including Prahlad Patel, Rao Uday Pratap Singh and Rakesh Singh who won assembly polls, were inducted in the new cabinet, except former Sidhi MP Riti Pathak.

The maximum strength of the council of ministers in Madhya Pradesh, which has 230 MLAs, can be 35, including the CM.

In the state assembly elections held last month, the BJP won 163 seats and the Congress 66.

Yadav took oath as chief minister on December 13 along with Shukla and Devda who were sworn in as deputy CMs.