New Delhi: Merely a few months ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government is expected to add a few more new faces to the Council of Ministers.

Anti-Incumbency since 2023 

As per media sources, the concept of new faces came up in a bid to fight the anti-incumbency in the state that has prevailed for nearly two decades, as the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has been in power since 2003, except for 18 months from 2018 to 2020 (March) when Congress had taken over and declared Kamalnath as Chief Minister.

Owing to a major political drama on a sunny day in March 2020, Kamalnath had tears in his eyes while announcing that he resigned from the post hours before the floor test was to be done in the state Assembly, marking a tough day for the grand-old party.

Lack of representation of certain castes

Another major reason behind the reshuffle is that certain castes in the state have shown dissatisfaction with the current government for not having their political representation at the state level. Often, there have been accusations against the BJP government that they favour the upper caste or Brahmins and neglect the people of other castes.

The saffron party has plans to add at least 4 new candidates to impress that castes in question. In order to balance the representation of the so-called Upper Caste and the Other Backward Class leaders, the party may bring in new yet prominent leaders who can hold the trust of people.

MP to India, Current Assembly Calculation

According to political experts, the votes of 15% of the population of India that resides in Madhya Pradesh decides the fate of political parties for the 2024 General Elections.

As per media sources, this could be one of the major rejigs in Madhya Pradesh so far. The Bharatiya Janata Party has 122 MLAs in Madhya Pradesh with 230 assembly seats, while Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has 30 ministers at present.

However, there are 4 vacant posts in the Council of Ministers. With the new inclusion, the number of BJP leaders in the Assembly can rise up to 35. There are possibilities that the reshuffle may take place by this evening or Thursday morning.