MP cabinet expansion: BJP MLA writes to CM, says people upset

BHOPAL: Resentment over Thursday's expansion of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh continued with ruling party MLA Ajay Vishnoi shooting off a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Vishnoi's letter, sent on Saturday, claimed there was resentment among the people of Jabalpur and Rewa divisions.
Vishnoi (68) is a former state minister and four time MLA, currently representing Jabalpur's Patan seat.

"I can understand your difficulties but people can't," he said in the letter to the CM, apparently a reference to Congressman-turned-BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia whose loyalists managed to corner a sizable share of the berths.

"I request you (Chouhan) to take charge (as guardian minister) of the two divisions to calm down the people. For your information, (Congress leader) Digvijay Singh, while he was MP chief minister, acted as in charge (guardian) minister of Jabalpur. Hope you will accept my request," he said in the letter.

Vishnoi is an old party loyalist and, in 1983, was Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president, and Chouhan served as the wing's state secretary.

When contacted, Vishnoi refused to comment.

Meanwhile, senior journalist Jairam Shukla said people in the Vindh area are upset over the non-inclusion of MLA Rajendra Shukla, whose clout in the region ensured the Congress could not open its account in Rewa, Singrauli and Shahdol districts.

On Thursday, a supporter of Indore BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola tried to immolate himself after the cabinet expansion.

Mendola, a loyalist of BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, was not given a ministerial berth in the expansion.