BHOPAL: Apart from the embarrassment it has caused to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam has also taken its toll on the much-awaited cabinet expansion in the state.
The cabinet expansion, which was scheduled to take place after the General Elections, has been put on hold due to the scam in which the names of many senior BJP and RSS leaders have cropped up.
At present there are 24 ministers in the state and as per the strength of the Assembly, 11 more ministers can be accommodated in the cabinet.
Aspiring party MLAs were told that the expansion would be done after the Lok Sabha elections after considering the performance of the party in their constituencies during the polls. “We were expecting the reshuffle to happen soon after the election results were declared as this was what we were told in the party forum. However, I do not think that the expansion is going to happen anytime soon due to the MPPEB scam as the government is more focused on how to handle the issue which is getting bigger every day,” a two-time party MLA and a cabinet hopeful said.
Of the 24 ministers, apart from six, the rest are handling more than one department. Some ministers have been assigned even four different departments with the CM himself handling five. “The plan was to expand the ministry after the elections as many deserving faces were not inducted into the cabinet in December when we won the Assembly polls. However, it is the prerogative of the CM to go for expansion. As of now that can wait as we have other important things to look after,” a senior party leader said.
CM Chouhan, who the Congress accuses of being involved in the scam, is also finding little time to work on the cabinet expansion. Last week, he postponed a cabinet meeting and rushed to Delhi to meet the senior party leaders and apprised them of what he alleged was the work of the ‘dirty trick department’ of the Congress to include his and the names of his family members in the scam.
Many MLAs who have won for the second or the third time and former ministers are in the fray for the 11 cabinet seats. “The expansion may result in some ministers being dropped as the CM had stated in December that the performance of the ministers and their departments will be the sole criteria to decide if they should be continued or dropped,” a former minister said.
