Chhattisgarh cabinet expands; Three deputies for their first term take oath, their number increases to 14

Three BJP MLAs were inducted into Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai’s cabinet in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, taking its strength to 14, the highest in the state’s history after the introduction of a constitutional provision to limit the size of the cabinet.

Governor Ramen Deka administered oath of office and secrecy to BJP legislators Rajesh Agrawal, Guru Khushwant Saheb and Gajendra Yadav, all new MPs, at a ceremony held here at the Raj Bhavan.

CM Sai, Assembly Speaker Raman Singh, Deputy CM Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma, state ministers and other leaders attended the ceremony.

Yadav was put in charge of the ministries of school education, law and legal affairs, and cottage industry.

Guru Khushwant Saheb has been appointed as the Minister of Skill Development, Technical Education and Employment, and Scheduled Caste Development Department.

Agrawal was entrusted with the ministries of tourism, culture, religious trust and endowments.

Sai congratulated the three new ministers and extended his best wishes to them.

In a statement, Sai expressed confidence that they will serve the people with utmost dedication, commitment and efficiency, and help take Chhattisgarh to new heights of development and good governance.

Wishing the ministers a brilliant tenure, the CM said the state government, driven by collective cooperation and commitment, would continue to make consistent efforts to fulfill the aspirations of the people.

Before the expansion, the Chhattisgarh cabinet had 11 members, including CM Sai.

In Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member assembly, 13 MLAs, including the chief minister, have traditionally been part of the cabinet since the introduction of the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, which stipulates that the size of a state’s Council of Ministers, including the CM, cannot exceed 15 per cent of the total strength of the House.

Chhattisgarh has adopted the ‘Haryana model’, under which 14 ministers, including the CM, sit in a 90-member assembly, sources said.

Like Haryana, for Chhattisgarh, which has 90 members, the limit stands at 13.5, leaving room for 14 cabinet members.

The expanded cabinet reflects a balance between caste and regional representation.

Among the three new ministers, Yadav is from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, Saheb from the Scheduled Caste and Agrawal from the general category.

After the enlargement, the cabinet now has seven members belonging to the OBC: deputy CM Arun Sao, ministers Lakhan Lal Dewangan, Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, OP Choudhary, Tank Ram Verma, Laxmi Rajwade and Gajendra Yadav.

CM Sai, ministers Ram Vichar Netam and Kedar Kashyap are from the Scheduled Tribes, Dayaldas Baghel and Guru Khushwant Saheb are from the SC category, while Deputy CM Vijay Sharma and Rajesh Agrawal are from the general category.

Laxmi Rajwade is the only woman member of the cabinet.

After the cabinet expansion, the Sai-led government has five members from Surguja division (north Chhattisgarh), three from Bilaspur division, two from Raipur division, three from Durg division and one from Bastar division (south Chhattisgarh).

The government has ensured representation of all major communities and regions, thereby further consolidating its social and political base in the state, political analysts say.

The Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state by ousting the Congress in the 2023 assembly elections. It won 54 seats, while the Congress got 35, up from 68 in the 2018 elections.

CM Sai, along with Deputy CM Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma, took oath on December 13, 2023. Nine ministers were inducted later that month.

The then MP and minister Brijmohan Agrawal resigned last year after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Raipur.

The profiles of the new ministers are as follows:

1. Rajesh Agrawal (58), a legislator from Ambikapur seat in Surguja division, defeated senior Congress leader and former MP CM TS Singh Deo by just 94 votes in the 2023 assembly elections. A first-time MP, Agrawal hails from the Vaishya community.

After being elected as Member of Parliament from Raipur, Brijmohan Agarwal resigned from the post of Minister of State. Since then, it was believed that an MP from the Vaishya community would have a place in the cabinet. Amar Agarwal, Sunil Soni and Sampat Agarwal are also MLAs from the community, but the BJP has expressed confidence in Rajesh Agarwal. He joined the BJP after leaving the Congress in 2018.

2. Guru Khushwant Saheb (36) represents Arang constituency reserved for SC category.

He is the son of Satnami sect leader Baldas Saheb and the duo joined the BJP after quitting the Congress ahead of the 2023 assembly elections. The Satnami sect, followed by the majority of Chhattisgarh’s population, accounts for around 13 per cent of the state’s population and is considered a crucial vote bank.

3. Gajendra Yadav, MP from Durg, belonging to the numerically strong OBC Yadav community, hails from the RSS.

In 2023, he defeated Congress leader Arun Vora, son of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Motilal Vora, by nearly 49,000 votes. Gajendra Yadav’s father, Bisra Ram Yadav, had in the past been the Prant Sanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Chhattisgarh.

Earlier, late senior BJP leader Hemanchand Yadav, also hailing from Yadav community and elected MLA from the same Durg constituency, served as a minister from 2003 to 2013 during the Raman Singh-led BJP governments in the state.