Two seats in Sai cabinet will remain vacant for time being

CM Vishnu Dev puts brake on speculations of cabinet expansion

Raveesh Benjamin

Raipur: Two seats in the cabinet of Vishnu Dev Sai government of Chhattisgarh will remain vacant for the time being. Chief Minister Vishnu Dev himself has indicated this. Keeping the chair vacant in the cabinet in Chhattisgarh is nothing new for the BJP. Earlier, in Dr. Raman Singh’s government also, the chair of ministers was kept vacant for a long time. In such a situation, it is difficult to say when the swearing-in will take place for both the chairs of ministers kept vacant in the Vishnu Dev government. It is believed that the entry of new ministers in the cabinet may take time.

In fact, Brijmohan Agarwal, who was elected Raipur MP, also had the work of Parliamentary Affairs Department along with Education. After Agarwal’s resignation, this department went to CM Vishnu Dev. Meanwhile, the monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly is starting from the 22nd. The workload of the Parliamentary Affairs Minister increases during the session, so it was expected that the Vishnu Dev cabinet would be expanded soon. The CM’s Delhi visits were also fuelling speculations about cabinet expansion, but now the CM has handed over the Parliamentary Affairs Department to Kedar Kashyap. So it is now believed that the cabinet expansion has been postponed for the time being.

Earlier the chair was kept vacant too

BJP has come to power in Chhattisgarh for the fourth time. Before this, BJP government was formed under the leadership of Dr. Raman Singh in 2003, 2008 and 2013. During the formation of the government in 2003, there was no restriction on the number of ministers, so 16 ministers, i.e. a total of 17 people, took oath along with the then Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh. In 2004, the law regarding the number of ministers came into force, so the size of the cabinet was reduced.

In 2008, when BJP came to power for the second time under the leadership of Dr. Raman, 11 ministers took oath along with Dr. Raman. These included Nankiram Kanwar, Brijmohan Agarwal, Ram Vichar Netam, Punnulal Mohile, Chandrashekhar Sahu, Amar Agarwal, Hemchandra Yadav, Vikram Usendi, Rajesh Moonat, Kedar Kashyap and Lata Usendi. One post of minister was kept vacant.

In 2013, BJP came to power in the state for the third consecutive time. Then Dr. Raman Singh took oath alone. Later 9 ministers took oath. Brijmohan Agarwal, Premprakash Pandey, Amar Agarwal, Kedar Kashyap, Ajay Chandrakar, Ramsevak Paikra, Punnu Lal Mohle, Rajesh Moonat and Ramshila Sahu were included. Bhaiyalal Rajwada, Mahesh Gagda and Dayaldas Baghel were made ministers in 2015.