Madhya Pradesh cabinet reshuffle soon: How CM Chouhan plans to rejig his team

“There is a possibility of some ministers being dropped as well,” said a person, requesting anonymity.

Speculation surrounds a potential state Cabinet reshuffle to counter anti-incumbency faced by Madhya Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party released its first list of candidates, targeting the 39 seats lost in the previous election. 

Madhya Pradesh assembly polls

With intermittent rule since 2003, except for an 18-month gap (2018-2020), the BJP’s dominance is challenged. These state polls, along with four others, will impact India’s political climate, shaping the narrative for the 2024 national elections.

Polls in five states, including Madhya Pradesh, accounting for roughly 15% of India’s population, are expected to set the tone for the 2024 national elections.

The Congress returned to power in Madhya Pradesh in 2018 but lost it in March 2020 when 22 legislators quit the party and resigned from the state assembly.

Meanwhile, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday asserted his party BJP will secure a clear majority in the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh and form the next government. 

Scindia, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after quitting the Congress in March 2020, however, refrained from predicting the number of seats the saffron outfit will win in the year-end polls to the 230-member assembly. 

“I am not an astrologer to tell the number of seats (that BJP will win). But we will form a full majority government in the state,” he told reporters here during his visit to the Gwalior-Chambal division which accounts for 34 assembly segments.

Updated: 23 Aug 2023, 12:16 PM IST