Madhya Pradesh: Two women among 28 ministers inducted in Kamal Nath's cabinet

A Muslim and two women are among the 28 MLAs who have been inducted in the Kamal Nath cabinet in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to the new ministers at an event attended by Nath and senior Congress leaders. All the ministers took oath in Hindi and they were accorded the Cabinet rank. Those who were sworn in included Dr Govind Singh (MLA from Lahar), Arif Aqueel (Bhopal North), Bala Bachchan (Rajpur ST), Sajjan Singh Verma (Sonkutch), Vijay Laxmi Sadho (Maheshawr) and Hukum Singh Karada (Shajapur). Aqueel is lone Muslim MLA in the Cabinet.

Govind Singh was a minister in the previous Congress government. Besides, Tulsi Silawat (Sanver) and Prabhuram Chowdhary (Sanchi), both former parliamentary secretaries, were also administered the oath.

Jaivardhan Singh, the MLA from Raghogarh and son of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, was also included into the Cabinet. Kasrawad legislator Sachin Yadav, younger brother of former Pradesh Congress Committee chief and ex-Union minister Arun Yadav, was also sworn in. Besides, Vijay Laxmi Sadho (Maheshawr) and Imarati Devi (Dabra) were the women MLAs included in the Cabinet. Sadho was also a minister in the previous Digvijay Singh-led government. Independent MLA Pradeep Jaiswal (Waraseoni), who contested as a Congress rebel, also took oath.

Madhya Pradesh: Vijayalaxmi Sadho, Sajjan Singh Verma and Hukum Singh Karada take oath as ministers in Bhopal. pic.twitter.com/nrSYa4cYBk

— ANI (@ANI) December 25, 2018

Others who got ministerial berths for the first time are: Brijendra Singh Rathore (Prithvipur), Lakhan Singh Yadav (Bhitarwar), Govind Rajput (Surkhi), Omkar Markam (Dindori), Sukhdeo Panse (Multai), Harsh Yadav (Deori), Kamleshwar Patel (Sihawal), Lakhan Ghanghoriya (Jabalpur East), Tarun Bhanot (Jabalpur West), PC Sharma (Bhopal South-West), Surendra Singh Baghel (Kukshi), Jitu Patwari (Rau), Umang Singhar (Gandhwani), Pradyumn Singh Tomar (Gwalior), Mahendra Singh Sisodiya (Bamori) and Priyavrat Singh (Khilchipur).

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress has won 114 seats in the 230-member House, the poll results of which were declared on December 11. It has secured the support of a total of 121 MLAs, including SP - 1 and BSP - 2 legislators as also of four independents, to cross the majority mark of 116 seats.

Kamal Nath had taken oath as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on December 17. He had gone to Delhi last week and returned along with Scindia on Tuesday afternoon after having discussions with the party leadership.

(With PTI inputs)