BHOPAL: In a significant development in Madhya Pradesh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Lakhan Patel has been divested of the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development portfolio.
A notification issued by the General Administration Department late on Tuesday said Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had taken away the portfolio from the first-time Minister and assigned him the Anand (Happiness) Department instead.
The Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Department will now remain with the Chief Minister.
The reasons for the reshuffle are yet to be officially disclosed. However, the move comes weeks after Yadav held one-on-one meetings with members of his Council of Ministers to review their performance and that of their respective departments.
Political observers have linked the decision to the recent performance review of Ministers, the reports of which were also shared with the BJP's central leadership.
Sources said the move could signal similar changes involving other Ministers and may precede a Cabinet reshuffle.
Patel, an OBC leader, is a second-term MLA from the Patharia Assembly constituency in Damoh district in the Bundelkhand region.
This is the second instance in the past two years of a first-time Minister being stripped of a key portfolio. In July 2024, Cabinet Minister Nagarsingh Chouhan, a tribal leader from Alirajpur district, was divested of the Forest Department and assigned the Scheduled Castes Welfare Department.
The Forest portfolio was later given to Ramniwas Rawat, a former Congress leader who joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Rawat, however, lost the subsequent Vijaypur Assembly bypoll in Sheopur district.
After losing the Forest portfolio, Chouhan had publicly expressed his displeasure and said he was considering resigning from the Ministry.