Bhopal: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday expanded his ministry by inducting nine Congress MLAs including a woman in it.
With this, the strength of his ministry has gone up to 12.
Earlier, two ministers, T.S. Singhdeo and Tamradhwaj Sahu, were sworn-in along with Mr Baghel who had taken oath as chief minister of Chhattisgarh on December 17.
The Bhupesh Baghel ministry has three members including a woman from Scheduled Tribe, two from Scheduled Caste and seven members including the chief minister from OBC communities. It has lone Muslim MLA.
Durg region got lion’s share in the ministry by being represented by six members including the chief minister in the cabinet, while Bastar and Raipur regions have been represented by one minister each.
At least four veteran leaders in the party, former Union minister Charan Das Mahant, former minister Satyanar-ayan Sharma, Amitesh Shukla and former Chhattisgarh Congress president Dhanendra Sahu were, surprisingly, not taken in the ministry, sparking strong resentment among their followers.
In fact, Mr Sahu and Mr Shukla boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers as a mark of protest for being ignored by the leadership. Party’s Rajya Sabha member Chhaya Verma has been assigned the task of pacifying Mr Sahu.
Party sources said Mr Mahant may be considered for the post of speaker of Chhattisgarh assembly.
Mr Baghel headed the first meeting of his cabinet in the evening in which the decision to return lands acquired for the abandoned Tata Steel project in Lohan-diguda under Bastar district in Chhattisgarh, to the original owners, was approved.
