Six ministers from 1998 Congress government find place in Kamal Nath cabinet

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, known as one of the most experienced parliamentarians in the country, will lead a cabinet of 28 ministers in the state government and only six of who have previous ministerial experience. After 15 years of BJP rule in the state, governor Anandiben Patel on Tuesday administered oath of office to council of ministers of a Congress government with 22 first time ministers.
Surprisingly, two well-known names of the erstwhile Digvijaya Singh regime have been dropped - six-time MLA from Picchore, former minister for animal husbandry KP Singh aka Kakkaju, four-time MLA from Anuppur and former minister for PWD Bisahulal Singh.
Eleven of the ministers belong to the Kamal Nath faction, nine are part of former chief minister Digvijaya Singh's group, seven are known to be Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalists and one Sachin Yadav from Kasrawad constituency is the brother of former Union minister of state Arun Yadav. Five ministers are from the Gwalior-Chambal division, three from Bundelkhand, one from Vindhya, four from Mahakaushal, six from Madhya and nine from Malwa-Nimar.
Caste-wise there are three Yadavs, two Brahmins, one minority Muslim Arif Aqueel (the state will have a minority minister after 15 years), eight Thakurs - show that "thakur" faction still holds prominence, four OBCs, four tribals and six scheduled castes. There are only two women in the council of ministers - Vijaylaxmi Sadho and three times MLA from Dabra Imarti Devi.
Out of the four independent MLAs who support the Congress government, only one has been given ministerial berth. Pradeep Jaiswal is four-times MLA from Waraseoni and was part of the Congress party till former BJP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's brother-in-law Sanjay Masani was fielded from the seat as Congress candidate. Jaiswal turned a rebel and contested the poll as independent and won.
Former ministers of the Digvijaya Singh government who found place in the Kamal Nath cabinet included Dr Govind Singh - seven times legislator from Lahar and former minister for cooperatives; Vijaylaxmi Sadho - four times MLA from Maheshwar, former Rajya Sabha MP and erstwhile minister; Sajjan Singh Verma - former minister for urban administration, four times MLA from Sonkatch and Lok Sabha MP from Dewas from 2009-14; Bala Bachchan - four times MLA from Rajpur assembly seat in Badwani, former minister for health, former deputy LOP in assembly; Arif Aqueel - six times MLA from Bhopal (North) seat, former minister for minority affairs and gas victim relief and Hukum Singh Karada - five times MLA from Shajapur and former Energy minister.
First-time entrants into the cabinet are four times MLA from Prithvipur seat Brijendra Singh Rathod known to be close to senior leader Digvijaya Singh, four times legislator from Bhitarwar and Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist Lakhan Singh Yadav, three-times MLA from Sanwer seat in Indore Tulsiram Silawat, three-times legislator from Dindori assembly constituency Omkar Singh Markam, three times MLA from Surkhi in Sagar district Govind Singh Rajput, Digvijaya Singh's son and second time MLA from Raghogarh Jaivardhan Singh and two-time MLA and former PCC chief Arun Yadav's brother Sachin Yadav.
Also sworn-in was state Congress working president and two times MLA from Rau seat Jeetu Patwari, nephew of former deputy CM Jamuna Devi and three -times MLA from Gandhwani seat Umang Singar, two-time MLA from Gwalior Pradyumn Singh Tomar, two-time MLA from Deori seat Harsh Yadav, two-time MLA from Sihawal seat Kamleshwar Patel, two-time MLA from Kukshi seat Surendra Singh Honey Baghel, kin of Digvijaya Singh and three-times MLA from Khilchipur Priyavrat Singh, two-times MLA from Sanchi Prabhuram Choudhary and two times MLA from Betul seat Sukhdev Phanse.