Digvijay likely to expand Cabinet today

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, APRIL 25. Within a year and a half of assuming office as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Digvijay Singh is now being forced to expand his Cabinet due to political compulsions. The Cabinet expansion is likely tomorrow.

The Chief Minister was scheduled to meet the Governor, Dr. Bhai Mahavir, later this evening at Raj Bhavan here to formally inform him about the expansion.

Sources said the induction of the former Deputy Chief Minister, Mr. Subhash Yadav, and former Ministers, Mr. Hajarilal Raghuvanshi, Mr. Harbans Singh and Mr. Rajendra Prasad Shukla into the State Cabinet could be treated as a certainty. Prominent among others who are also most likely to find a berth in the enlarged Cabinet are Mr. Pratap Singh Uike, Mr. Shivnarayan Meena, Mr. Manvendra Singh and Mr. Mahendra Karma. Mr. Hiralal Silavat is also a strong competitor for a Ministerial berth.

The strength of the 38-Minister Cabinet is likely to go up to 50 after the proposed expansion.

The Cabinet expansion is significant in view of the dissent that had started surfacing recently within the State unit of the ruling party on the farmers' issue and the retrenchment of more than 16000 daily wage employees recruited after 1989.

It remains to be seen whether or not Mr. Digvijay Singh would be able to quell the dissent on issues that have a direct bearing on the image of the State Government after burdening the exchequer further with the induction of several new Ministers.

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Section  : Regional
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