MP: CM Shivraj Expands Cabinet, Inducts 3 BJP MLAs as Ministers Months Ahead of Assembly Polls

GG News Bureau

Bhopal, 26th Aug. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expanded his cabinet on Saturday, inducting three BJP MLAs as ministers months before the state assembly elections, which are scheduled for the end of the year.

With this, the Chouhan-led cabinet currently has 34 members.

Governor Mangubhai Patel swore in three legislators as ministers at the Raj Bhavan here about 9 a.m.

Former minister Rajendra Shukla, a Brahmin leader and four-time MLA from Rewa in the Vindh region; Gaurishankar Bisen, a seven-time legislator from Balaghat in the Mahakoshal region who is also the chairman of the MP Backward Class Commission; and first-time MLA from Khargapur in Tikamgarh district of Bundelkhand region Rahul Lodhi took oath as ministers.

While Shukla and Bisen took oath as cabinet ministers, Lodhi was sworn in as minister of state. They are yet to be allotted portfolios, a Raj Bhavan official told PTI.

Lodhi is a nephew of senior BJP leader Uma Bharti.

Bisen (71) and Lodhi (46) belong to the OBC community, which makes up more than 45 per cent of the population of Madhya Pradesh.