Sravani Sarkar

NewsBits.in

Bhopal: With induction of three more ministers from Madhya Pradesh, one in every ten minister of expanded Narendra Modi cabinet is from the central Indian state – catapulting it to an enviable position on national pulpit of power politics.

Modi inducted two newly elected Rajya Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh – Anil Madhav Dave and MJ Akbar, apart from the tribal face of the party Faggan Singh Kuleste into the union cabinet on Tuesday.

With this the number of ministers from MP in union cabinet has gone up to an unprecedented eight. There were already five ministers representing Madhya Pradesh in the Modi cabinet.

Among them was Prakash Javdekar, who was the only minister on Tuesday to be promoted to cabinet rank and to get an important of human resource development (in place of Smriti Irani).

Now every one of ten ministers in 78-member union cabinet (10.25%) is from Madhya Pradesh, with  five cabinet ministers, one minister of state with independent charge and three ministers of state.

Also the Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan is from Madhya Pradesh.

If Uma Bharti, who is a Madhya Pradesh leader but represents Jhansi constituency in Uttar Pradesh in parliament this time, then the MP stronghold in Modi cabinet and national power politics becomes firmer.

Not only this, following the reshuffle late on Tuesday, almost all ministers from MP hold very crucial portfolios in union cabinet headed by Modi (see list).

This is probably first time that so many ministers from Madhya Pradesh have got place in union cabinet. In the past only three to four ministers would be holding charge of the union ministries.

 

MINISTERS FROM MADHYA PRADESH 

Cabinet ministers:

Sushma Swaraj – External Affairs

Prakash Javdekar – Human Resource Development

Narendra Singh Tomar – Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water & Sanitation

Thawarchand Gehlot – Social Justice & Empowerment

Najma Heptullah – Minority Affairs

(Uma Bharti – Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation)

 

Ministers of State:

Anil Madhav Dave – Environment and Forest, Climate Change (independent charge)

MJ Akbar – External Affairs

Faggan Singh Kuleste – Health and Family Welfare