THE GWALIOR GAMBLE

CRUCIAL BYPOLLS ON ITS MIND, THE BJP GIVES JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA LOYALISTS A LION’S SHARE OF POSTS IN THE SHIVRAJ CABINET EXPANSION, RISKING THE WRATH OF PARTY VETERANS LEFT OUT

- RAHUL NORONHA

“Jab manthan hota hai toh amrit nikalta hai, aur joh vish nikalta hai usko Shiv pee jaate hain (A churn yields both ambrosia and poison, and Shiva drinks the poison [for the greater good]),” said Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on his return from Delhi on July 1 following tough negotiations on the much-awaited expansion of his cabinet. The sense of disappointment was palpable in the words of Chouhan, who in his past three terms as MP chief minister had enjoyed unfettered control over cabinet appointments and government posts.

Chouhan inducted 28 ministers on July 2, but the leader who walked away with a lion’s share of the appointments was a recent BJP entrant—Jyotiraditya Scindia. Poised to return to the Union cabinet himself, Scindia secured 11 positions for his loyalists in the 34-member state cabinet. The three other former Congress MLAs who got berths are not Scindia acolytes but were among the 22 legislators who had crossed over along with him to the BJP in March.