Uma Bharti inducts 19 ministers, drops two

In her first ministry expansion, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti on Monday inducted 19 new ministers -- including six with cabinet rank -- and dropped two others.

Minister of State for School Education and Water Resources Anup Mishra (independent charge) was elevated to Cabinet rank while three of the 13 new ministers of state were given independent charge.

The new ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by in-charge Governor K M Seth at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal on Monday evening.

With this, the strength of Uma Bharti ministry has gone up to 35, including the chief minister.

The new Cabinet ministers are Anchal Sonkar, Dilip Bhatere Jayant Mallayya, Archana Chitnis, Kunwar Vijay Shah and Rustam Singh.

Bharti has given independent charge to Rajendra Shukla, Sunil Naik and Laxmikant Sharma, inducting them as ministers of state.

Lavkesh Singh, Devi Singh Patel, Dhulji Chaudhary, Gangara Patel, Gopilal Jatav, Jagdish Devra, Karan Singh Verma, Moti Kashyap, Narayan Singh Kushwaha and Shivnarayan Jagirdar, have been accorded the rank of ministers of state.

Animal Husbandry minister Ramakant Tiwari and Minister of State for Home Jagdish Muvel have submitted their resignations, the chief minister told reporters later.

Bharti said due representation was given to different regions, castes and other groups in the ministry and next reshuffle will only be made following a thorough review of the work after two years.