BHOPAL: In a significant reshuffle in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Lakhan Patel has been stripped of the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development portfolio.
A notification issued by the General Administration Department late on Tuesday reassigned the first-time minister to the Anand (Happiness) Department, a relatively less significant portfolio.
The Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Department will now be directly overseen by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, taking the number of departments under his charge to 11.
While the government has not disclosed the reason for the move, it comes weeks after the chief minister held one-to-one review meetings with ministers to assess their performance and that of their departments.
A section of political observers has linked the development to the recent performance review, the findings of which were reportedly shared with the BJP's central leadership. Sources said the move could be the first in a series of changes ahead of a possible Cabinet reshuffle.
The corridors of power in Bhopal are also abuzz with other possible reasons behind the decision.
According to informed sources, the move may be linked to delays in resolving issues following the transfer of the management of the MP State Cooperative Dairy Federation and its six affiliated milk unions to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) under a five-year agreement signed on April 13, 2025.
The agreement, signed in the presence of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, aims to double the state's milk production and revive defunct rural dairy cooperatives.
Another theory circulating in political circles is that concerns over the implementation of the chief minister's flagship Mukhyamantri Swawlambi Gaushala Yojana may have contributed to Patel losing the portfolio. The scheme seeks to modernise cattle management by relocating stray and abandoned cattle from highways to large, self-sustaining gaushalas.
Sources said issues relating to the scheme were flagged to the RSS and the BJP leadership, following which the portfolio was taken away from the minister. It remains to be seen whether any action will be initiated against senior officials in the department.
“Had the July 30 by-elections to the Datia assembly seat not been there, Patel may well have been even dropped from the council of ministers. But the concern of it affecting the 90,000-plus OBC vote, possibly stopped the extreme move of dropping the minister,” informed sources claimed.
Patel, a second-term MLA from Patharia in Damoh district, belongs to the Kurmi community, an OBC caste. This is the second instance in two years of a first-time minister being stripped of a key portfolio while remaining in the Cabinet.
In July 2024, first-time minister and tribal leader Nagarsing Chouhan was divested of the Forest portfolio and reassigned to the Scheduled Caste Welfare Department. The Forest Department was subsequently handed to former Congress leader Ramniwas Rawat, who had joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but later lost the Vijaypur Assembly by-election.
Following the reshuffle, Chouhan had publicly expressed his disappointment and said he was considering resigning from the Cabinet.
