Summary:
Bhopal: The expansion of Shivraj Singh ministry -- where a chunk of berths has gone to the Jyotiraditya Scindia camp -- has brought out the first fissures within the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Before the day was out, supporters of a number of ministry hopefuls held protests across the state, demanding that their leaders be accommodated in the ministry, and veteran party leader Uma Bharati wrote to the party`s state president VD Sharma, claiming her suggestions have been completely ignored.
It was Mr Scindia`s defection from the Congress with 22 MLAs that brought down the Congress government led by Kamal Nath and gave the BJP another shot at power. But the newcomers` demand for reward -- at least 11 cabinet berths -- had not been taken to kindly by established leaders of the BJP.
Even the Chief Minister made it clear that he was not happy to let go of a chunk of his loyalist team.
Uma Bharati, a former Chief Minister of the state, has another set of grievances.
In her letter, which was also sent to the party`s organizational secretary Suhas Bhagat and Vinay Sahasrabudhe, the BJP parliamentarian in-charge of the state unit, she said the ministers` list should be amended as it did not give proper representation in terms of region or caste.
Ms Bharti wanted the inclusion of MLAs from the Bundelkhand region and from her Lodhi OBC caste, which is a sizeable vote bank in Bundelkhand and Central Madhya Pradesh.
The 33-member cabinet has eight Thakurs, three Brahmins, one Kayastha, one Sikh, four ministers from Scheduled Tribes, four are from the Scheduled Castes.
Supporters of various ministry hopefuls, meanwhile, vented their anger on streets.