In Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government which was without a cabinet till now, has inducted five BJP leaders on Tuesday. They took oath as cabinet ministers in the first expansion of the council of ministers in the state.

At a  function held at the Raj Bhawan in Bhopal, the five ministers, including a woman and two ex-MLAs, were sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Those sworn in are Dr Narottam Mishra (Brahmin), Tulsiram Silawat (Scheduled Caste), Kamal Patel (OBC), Govind Singh Rajput (Thakur), and Meena Singh (Women’s and Scheduled Tribe quota)Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was present at the ceremony. Narottam Mishra is from Chambal-Gwalior, while Tiulsi Silawat is from Malwa region. Govinf Singh Rajput is from Bundelkhand, while Meena Singh represents Mahakaushal area.

The state was without a cabinet since last two months owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chouhan was sworn in CM on March 23.

The Supreme Court on April 13, had  held ‘valid’ the Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon’s decision to order a floor test in the state assembly after the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs, leading to the government formation by Shivraj Singh Chouhan led BJP.

The decision is a setback for the former Chief Minister Kamal Nath who was stumbling the Congress chariot in the state with a wafer-thin majority which later collapsed after the 22 MLAs resigned from the party.

Congress had termed the BJP’s government formation as unconstitutional and moved the Supreme Court on Governor’s order to conduct a floor test.

The political crisis in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly erupted after the Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia along with 22 Congress legislators resigned from the party. Congress was enjoying a wafer-thin majority in the state with 114 seats leaving behind the opposition BJP on 109 seats.

After the resignation of 22 Congress legislators, the ‘magical figure’ in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly dropped at 106, a number which was a ‘cake-walk’ for BJP to attain.

The state has so far 1485 positive cases of Coronavirus, with 74 deaths being reported. Meanwhile, 127 people cured/discharged/migrated, according to the Health Ministry data.