Almost a month after Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn in as the 19th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, five ministers, including two from the Jyotiraditya Scindia camp, were allocated portfolios in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on Wednesday, April 22.
The new ministers -- Narottam Mishra (Home and Health Department), Tulsiram Silawat (Water Resources Department), Govind Singh Rajput (Food Processing Minister), Meena Singh (Tribal Welfare Department) and Kamal Patel (Agriculture Minister) -- represented five different parts of Madhya Pradesh including Bundelkhand, Central MP, Malwa-Nimar, Mahakoshal, and Gwalior-Chambal region.
These five ministers were sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at the Raj Bhawan on Tuesday. The Governor administered the oath of office and secrecy to all the five ministers.
This new allotment of portfolios comes after the new ministers took oath in the Madhya Pradesh cabinet yesterday. On March 23, Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself took oath as the MP chief minister following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs after Gwalior royalty Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from Congress which led to the fall of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government on March 20 in Madhya Pradesh.
Chouhan tries to ensure a caste balance
CM Chouhan tried to ensure a caste balance by choosing two ministers from the general category, including Narottam Mishra and Govind Singh Rajput. Kamal Patel is from the powerful OBC segment, Tulsi Silawat from the scheduled caste category and Meena Singh from the scheduled tribe segment.
On Covid-19 cases
Madhya Pradesh has reported around 1,552 coronavirus positive cases while the death toll has risen to 76. Around 148 people in the state have recovered from the coronavirus infection.
