Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in power in Gujarat for the third consecutive time. Like the last time, this time also five MPs from the state have taken oath as ministers. Of these, two belong to the Scheduled Castes, two to the Scheduled Tribes and one to the Scheduled Tribes.
The BJP won 29 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
After this, the quota of ministerial posts in the central government in the state remains intact. After Narendra Modi took oath as Prime Minister for the third time on Sunday, five MPs from the state took oath as ministers in the Modi Cabinet 3.0. Through this, the caste and regional equation of the state has been simplified in the Modi cabinet.
Three new faces have been included in the cabinet including Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, eight-time MP from Tikamgarh Virendra Khatik, Dhar MP Savitri Thakur and Durgadas Uikey from Betul-Harda Lok Sabha constituency have been made ministers in the Modi government 3.0. Shivraj and Scindia come from the OBC category, Savitri Thakur and Durgadas Uikey from the Scheduled Tribes and Virendra Khatik from the Scheduled Castes category.
There were five ministers in Modi 2.0 too, this time Kulaste's leave
There were five ministers from the state in the second Modi government. In this, Jyotiraditya and Virendra Khatik have got a chance again. Former Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste was also present on the occasion. The BJP has fielded five candidates.
Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste were also present. Faggan Singh Kulaste had lost the assembly election from Niwas in Mandla district. Since then, questions have been raised about his political future. Prahlad Patel and Narendra Singh Tomar have been given important responsibilities in the state government.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the BJP candidate from the constituency. He won the Vidisha seat by 8.21 lakh votes. This is the third biggest victory in the country. OBCs are a big face in the state. He has been chief minister of Madhya Pradesh four times.
The former chief minister has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Vidisha for the sixth time. He has been a Member of Parliament 6 times. The BJP won 29 seats in the state. One of the reasons for this is the Ladli Bahana started during the tenure of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister. Shivraj's maternal uncle's image connects him with the people.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, a Lok Sabha MP from Guna-Shivpuri seat, was the Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel in the previous government. He is a five-time MP. In 2019, he contested from Congress and lost to BJP's KP Yadav. In 2020, he left the Congress and joined the BJP and became a Rajya Sabha member. Scindia is the choice of PM and Shah. The BJP is making steady progress. BJP is moving ahead as a young face. It is also popular in other states.
He has become an MP for the eighth time. Virendra Kumar Khatik, an MP from Khatik Tikamgarh seat, was the Social Justice Minister in the previous government. He is an eight-time MP. He first became a Member of Parliament in 1996. He was also a minister in the first Modi government. The senior-most MP in the state belongs to the Scheduled Caste category. There is a large vote bank of Scheduled Castes in Bundelkhand. By making Khatik a minister, the BJP has tried to strike both regional and caste equations.
Durgadas Uikey, a Lok Sabha MP from Betul-Harda constituency, is the first-time minister in the Modi government. He entered politics in 2019 and became an MP. He quit his job to join politics. He is close to the Sangh and comes from the tribal community. Betul, a tribal area, did not get any representation in the state and central government for a long time. By making Uikey a minister, the BJP has tried to tap the tribal vote bank as well as central India and Malwa.
Savitri Thakur, an MP from Dhar, has become a minister for the first time in the Modi government. She was an MP in the Modi government from 2014 to 2019. The BJP had fielded 6 women MPs in the Lok Sabha elections, from which Savitri Thakur got the ticket. Savitri Thakur comes from a tribal community and benefited from being close to the RSS. At the same time, by making Thakur a minister, he has tried to cater to the tribal section along with the Malwa region.