Shivraj, Scindia join Union Cabinet; Madhya Pradesh has five Ministers; two tribal MPs are Ministers of State

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia were among the three BJP leaders from the State who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia were among the three BJP leaders from the State who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers in the third National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The other leader who became a Cabinet Minister is Virendra Kumar, a prominent Dalit face of the BJP in the State and a consecutive eight-term MP.

Apart from the three Cabinet Ministers, the State also saw two tribal leaders — Savitri Thakur and Durga Das Uikey — taking oath as Ministers of State, both as first-time Ministers.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, Madhya Pradesh remained a BJP bastion and turned out to be one of the most successful States for the party as it won all 29 constituencies, up from 28 in 2019.  

Mr. Chouhan, the State’s longest-serving Chief Minister, returned to the Lok Sabha, winning from his traditional Vidisha constituency by a margin of more than 8.2 lakh votes. 

A prominent Other Backward Class (OBC) face and arguably the tallest BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Chouhan served as the CM from November 2005 to December 2023, barring a 15-month-period between 2018 and 2020 when the Congress was in power in the State. 

Mr. Chouhan, referred to as ‘mama (maternal uncle)’ by his supporters, was replaced by his former Cabinet colleague Mohan Yadav as the Chief Minister after the party stormed back to power in the State in last year’s Assembly election.