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Chhattisgarh gets maximum berths in MP ministry

Chhattisgarh has been given maximum representation in the Digvijay Singh ministry with eleven of the 39 members hailing from the region.

Nine members of the new ministry constituted yesterday hailed from Mahakaushal region, followed by seven from Malwa, four from Gwalior-Chambal and two each from Vindhya, Bundelkhand, Nimar and Bhopal division.

Five legislators of the Chhattisgarh region, who were members of the last Digvijay Singh ministry, have again found berths in the new Congress ministry in the state. They are Satya Narayan Sharma, Ravindra Choubey, Dhanesh Patila, Chanesh Ram Rathia and Nanda Kumar Patel.

Prominent legislators of the Mahakaushal region inducted into the ministry are Ajay Narayan Mushran, Deepak Saxena, Urmila Singh, Likhiram Kawre, Tejilal Saryam and Shravan Patel. All of them, excepting Shravan Patel, were also ministers in the earlier cabinet.

Among the ministers, Jamuna Devi, Narendra Nahata, Subhash Sojatia, Sajjan Singh Verma and Hukum Singh Karada belong to the Malwa region.

Besides Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, three other members of ministry belonging to the Gwalior-Chambal region are Mahendra Bodhya, Dr Govind Singh and Puran Singh Bedia.

Fifteen members of the new team have become ministers for the first time. However, three of the remaining ministers -- Ramchandra Singh Deo, Mahendra Bodhya and Shravan Patel -- were not members of previous Digvijay Singh ministry.

The first two were in the Shyama Charan Shukla ministry, while Patel was a minister when Motilal Vora was the chief minister.

The representation of Malwa region is likely to increase in any future expansion as the chief minister has indicated, that the region had played an important role in the Congress retaining power in the state.

Though the supporters of the Congress heavyweights have not found place in the ministry, according to the 'quota system', several of those close to Arjun Singh, Madhavrao Scindia, Kamal Nath and Shyama Charan Shukla have been accommodated in the new ministry.

Among the supporters of the chief ministers who have found place in the ministry, the names of Ravindra Choubey, Satya Narayan Sharma, Nanda Kumar Patel, Dr Govind Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, Ghanshyam Patidar and Arif Aqueel are noteworthy.

Those who are considered close to Congress Working Committee member Arjun Singh include Indrajit Kumar Patel, Krishna Kumar Gupta, Gangabai Ureti, Veer Singh Raghuvanshi and Shankar Sodi.

Mahendra Singh and Mahendra Bodhya, who are considered close to Congress general secretary Madhavrao Scindia and Ratnesh Saloman, a relative of Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi, have also been inducted in the ministry.

Former Union minister Kamal Nath's supporters include Deepak Saxena, Likhiram Kawre, Sajjan Singh Verma, Hukum Singh Karada and Bala Bachchan.

UNI

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