As new cabinet in MP takes shape CM Mohan Yadav meets Chouhan

Bhopal, Dec 26: Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday met his predecessor Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the latter’s residence here.

The CM office said it was a courtesy meeting.

Yadav, a three-time MLA, has had a long association with the RSS and subsidiary organisations, having held key organisational posts in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and was the higher education minister in Chouhan's cabinet.

The development came a day after CM Mohan Yadav’s cabinet was expanded with 28 ministers being sworn in, 18 of them as cabinet ministers and 10 state ministers on Monday. The new cabinet ministers include stalwarts like BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and ex-Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel and former state president Rakesh Singh.

However, the portfolios of the cabinet ministers have yet to be allocated and a race for acquiring the departments, especially home and urban development has begun among the heavyweights. After the cabinet was expanded, a new buzz started on who will be the next home minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Notably, senior BJP leader and former state Home Minister Narottam Mishra has lost the Assembly election against the Congress from Datia Assembly seat. Mishra, who was governing the home department from his office 304- third floor in Ballabh Bhawan (Madhya Pradesh Secretariats), has been allotted to Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla.

The allotment of the ex-home minister’s chamber to Shukla has given rise to speculation that the latter could be the next home minister of Madhya Pradesh. However, many believe those heavyweights leaders -- Kailash Vijayvargiya and Prahlad Patel and some others are also in the race.

As many as five women MLAs have been elevated to the ministerial posts against three in former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet.